


Acceleracers: Reborn

by octavio675



Category: Acceleracers, Hot Wheels (Movies), Hot Wheels: Acceleracers
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-02
Updated: 2020-09-08
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:28:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 32,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25026979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/octavio675/pseuds/octavio675
Summary: At one point, there was the legendary Highway 35. Reaching its end was just the first step mapped out for us by the Accelerons. Now, two years after the events of the World Race, characters old and new will have to work together once more, racing for Dr Tezla once again to stop Gelorum and her army of Racing Drones, and another mysterious faction. In order tp face these new challengers and face them, as well as the rivalries among themselves, these fellas will have to drive to survive!
Kudos: 1





	1. Meet the (new) characters

**AcceleRacers: Reborn**

An Acceleracers fanfiction written by octavio675, sailorchickenwing and 733S.

 **A/N:** Welcome… to the Acceledrome!!!! I mean, this piece of fanfiction. I wrote something similar to this _years_ ago, but it was pretty cringy, and full of loopholes and typos. Thus, I’ve decided to revamp it, or rather remake it? Idk, but I _do_ know that I didn't want to do it alone, so I got sailor to help me :D Now, before we move on, I’m gonna say this… _*inhales*_...

 **DISCLAIMER:** **WE DON’T OWN NOTHING EXCEPT FOR MY OCS. Credits for the other OCs (Metal Teku) go to Shadowofthedragons/Shads42, a good friend of mine. Tyvm for letting me use them back then, and now as well. Acceleracers and Highway 35 are property of Mattel, Mainframe Entertainment/Rainmaker Studios and etc, etc. We are IN NO WAY, SHAPE OR FORM profitting from this.**

Alright, before we move on, here’s some links to pictures of some of the cars you may not be familiar with, just for reference (bear in mind we’re gonna put the links with a dash so fanfiction.net doesn’t freaking delete us for something or other):

Talia’s car: Paradigm Shift (link: https://www-google-com/search?q=paradigm+shift+hot+wheels&sxsrf=ALeKk02B4MGFqQgaiaTGzFuP67wqIUL16A:1593233263956&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj26ve1mKHqAhW4I7kGHWzyDD8Q_AUoAXoECAsQAw&biw=1920&bih=937#imgrc=5JwV6tDisd6RSM

Gale’s truck: Chevy Avalanche 2003 (link: https://www-google-com/search?q=2003+chevy+avalanche+z71&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwiB8tnG6aXqAhVLB7kGHXWTD_YQ2-cCegQIABAA&oq=2003+chevy+avalanche+z&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQARgAMgQIABATMgQIABATMgQIABATMgQIABATMggIABAFEB4QEzoECCMQJzoICAAQCBAeEBNQ_mpY_XRg23loAXAAeACAAVSIAeECkgEBNZgBAKABAaoBC2d3cy13aXotaW1n&sclient=img&ei=YT35XsG9FMuO5OUP9aa-sA8&bih=937&biw=1920#imgrc=Hkl8ccKnVN31QM)

Terra’s car: Blvd Bruiser (link: https://www-google-com/search?q=blvd+bruiser+hot+wheels&sxsrf=ALeKk03mHqCnUMNbDtSDYFU08AkAIHh4VA:1593233141096&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiSiK37l6HqAhWXK7kGHR87CPcQ_AUoAXoECAsQAw&biw=1920&bih=937#imgrc=hrPHmPXXhZgwZM)

Lucy’s car: Quick n’ Sik (https://www-google-com/search?q=quick+n+sik&sxsrf=ALeKk02B3WxuSOI2A8e5oWnx6eDEKxBS0Q:1593489703039&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi1rM_d06jqAhXnILkGHcSWDW4Q_AUoAXoECAsQAw&biw=1920&bih=937#imgrc=RCDEqGSbfumb-M)

Kaiya’s car: MS-T Suzuka (https://www-hotwheels-fandom-com/wiki/MS-T_Suzuka?file=2005-107a.jpg)

Annabelle’s car: Golden Arrow (https://www-hotwheels-fandom-com/wiki/Golden_Arrow?file=56370_-_Golden_Arrow_%283%29.jpg

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s move on!!!

**AcceleRacers: Reborn**

**Part one: Ignition**

**Prologue: Meeting the teams**

***UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 2004***

Somewhere in the eastern coast of the United States, in different cities and simultaneously, the members of two street racing teams received a letter from an unknown sender. 

***Somewhere in NYC, in an indistinct apartment block*.**

Yo!, you might be wondering how I am so, well, imma explain, and even tho it’s not my style to talk much, I’ll make an exception for you. My name’s Gale Takamoto, but my friends call me Gale, and so can you. My story goes like this. I was born in Japan 16 years ago, but I moved to America with my mother when she and _Otōsan_ (dad) divorced. I lived and grew up thinking it was just me and mom and dad, until some time ago I found out some letters she had been hiding from me, which were signed by father _and_ my brother, which I didn’t know I had!!! I ain’t someone who gets mad easily, but _yo_ , that was _not_ cool from her part, at all. That’s why I decided to move out. I found out that dad had bought this nice apartment some blocks away from mom’s (thankfully he thought about me, unlike her). And well, I’m now living my best life as a DJ, both at a nightclub, or rather, several ones, where I play the _best_ tunes of them all!!! Techno, house, progressive, EDM, you name it. I also play for myself at home, though I’ve had soundproofed walls installed the day I moved in. The landlord was more than pleased, and so were the neighbors. Well, anyways, moving on, I’m kinda on the short side, barely standing at 5’ 1’’ and a half, and that extra half of an inch is just because of my hairstyle, which is shoulder-length and blackish blue in color. Anyways, my bro is like half a foot taller than me… Not that I’m complaining about being short though! It’s got its benefits. Uh? Ah, yeah, well, I’m uh, almost always with my wireless headphones on, blasting full on my techno music, I also love videogames!!! Of all genres, I’ve got no preference. Other things about me, aside from my chill and silent personality and likings… Well, I’m almost always wearing long sleeved shirts, black fingerless gloves, a sweater, and a two-tones-of-blue jacket above it, with black jogging pants and some sneakers. Brrrr, I’m cold!!! It’s not my fault, I’m very sensitive to the cold. Man, what I wouldn’t give for living in a hotter place… Well, that’s pretty much you need to know bout me. If you need anything, I’ll-

A series of knocks are heard on the door, and the girl stops mumbling about. She gets up from her chair, stretching, before yawning and speaking, in a rather hoarse voice. ‘’I’m coming!’’, before trudging her way to the door. She reaches out with her arm, grabs the envelope, not even bothering to look at the mailman, which was a custom of hers already, and closes the door again. 

She walked back to her spinning chair and sat on it, envelope in hand. She ripped it open and pulled out a letter from inside. As she started reading it, her facial features twisted into confusion, as her brow furrowed and her heterochromia-affected blue and brown orbs , hidden by orange translucent glasses, squinted at the text. Her expression soon changed into an enthusiastic grin. If there was one thing she loved as much as videogames and music, it was driving. She nodded and hurriedly folded the letter and shoved it into her pants’ pocket. 

‘’I’m gonna need some supplies… Where’s my wallet and my keys?’’. She mumbled to herself as she rummaged through her room. ‘’Also, clothing… Damn, I can’t believe we’re gonna be racing again, it had been so long since I last raced! And even more, since I did it with the team!!! I wonder if the girls got the same letter too’’. As she rambled on, she finished preparing herself. 

She double-checked her bag as she was opening the door, to make sure she was ready. She nodded and closed the door and turned the keys once she was out, then made her way to the parking lot. She didn’t tell you something important, but I will. She drives a custom 2003 Chevy Avalanche, which on its back has a top-notch, state-of-the-art Pioneer audio system, with eighteen speakers, all with her team’s logo neatly painted on them. She ain’t calling it Bass Vortex for nothing. Its paint coat is the same as the one depicted in the image a few paragraphs above but it sports CM6 rims with a red dot on the center and, of course, it has her team’s name written on the sides in latin alphabet, and in kanji in the hood, both in black.

Now, back to Gale. As she reached her ride and climbed inside, she couldn’t help but think about the fact that it would be a _long_ ride. She sighed dejectedly, frowning at how slow she’d have to drive or risk a fine. 

The car’s engine purred as soon as she turned the ignition. She switched gears to first and slowly inched towards the garage door which was already opening. As he crossed it and the morning sun shone across the New York sky, her mind trailed away, wondering about her teammates… And speaking of which…

One of them was near her, relatively. In the outskirts of New York, there was a junkyard in Queens, where cars of course came to rest before they were torn away from everything that might be worth salvaging before being scrapped and turned into a chunk of what it once was. And there lived a certain someone.

There was a shabby, run-down one story building which stood near the entrance of said junkyard. The structure had seen better days, seeing as it now had evident signs of decay and lack of maintenance on its walls, the dirty, cracked paint which was once a pristine white now having stained and cracked. This place even had a small porch, with the wooden fencing splintered on some edges. So, anywho, inside of it, there was a room that looked slightly bigger than a janitor’s closet, considering it barely had enough space for a bed, which occupied most of the room, a shelf to the right of it working as a makeshift nightstand, and nothing more besides a light bulb hanging from the ceiling, with the light switch being next to the only door to the room. And inside of this room, lying in the bed, was a teen, she couldn’t be more than 18 or 20. 

The alarm clock started blaring next to me and I groaned in annoyance as I fumbled with it, before I groggily slipped my fingers until I found the switch and turned it off. With a groan of tiredness, I rolled over, ignoring the tempting call of the warm, worn blankets, and I got out of the bed. 

As I rubbed the sleep away from my eyes, I heard a familiar voice calling out to me from the other side of the house. ‘’I’m coming, gimme a minute!!!’’. I yelled back, before fully getting out of bed and stretching. I walked to the makeshift dresser and pulled out some of my clothing. A long sleeved black shirt with a skull, a pair of worn work jeans, and leather boots would do. 

Alright, so you don’t know who I am. I’ll tell you, but briefly, I am not one who talks much, so consider yourself lucky. My name’s Terra Kitano, but I’d rather stick to just my first name. I have a… _dispute_ , so to speak, with my family. Ever heard of my half-brother, the world renowned Taro Kitano? The man who skied down Mount Everest twice? Well, I’m his sister… Or rather, half-blood sibling. You see, the Kitano family is one of the wealthiest families in Japan, with very important commercial ties with the United States. Anyway, my father had the great idea of having an affair with one of the housemaids and during one of their encounters, things… went south… as Americans would say. As expected from that, I was conceived. Bad thing for my father though, since I was an unwanted child, so, after a few years of living in the Kitano household somewhere in America, I was kicked out of the house and had to seek shelter in the streets and wherever I could. In a particularly cold winter, I was about to succumb to frostbite when I was found by a man near this junkyard I am currently living in, and therefore I became his adoptive daughter. I was raised by him and his wife, and I am deeply thankful with them, having done so much for me even though they did not have to. They are the sole reason I am still alive. Don’t be mistaken, though, I might not like Taro but I don’t have such a hatred for him as I do with my father, and regarding my mother, she is the one I miss the most, considering she was the one who insisted and urged my father to reconsider his… decision... of doing what he did. 

That’s pretty much all you have got to know about me, no more, no less. If you’re extra curious, you’ll have to settle with this final piece of information, although I don’t see why telling you that I’m of an average height, build and my eyes have the same color as my brother’s would be relevant. Either way, now that that’s over, I can finally get over to my breakfast.

As Terra walked to the kitchen, her nostrils were flooded by the pleasant smell of pancakes. Those she hadn’t eaten in a while, and she allowed the ghost of a smile to creep on her face. She made her way to the table as the man cooking flipped a pancake and stopped his whistling to greet her warmly. ‘’Mornin’ kid! Did you sleep well?

‘’Good morning Tom-san, Susan-sama’’, she greeted both with respect, bowing her head slightly in respect. She took a seat in one of the ancient chairs, and looked at the assorted food on the worn mahogany table. There were a few pancakes already, with one waiting for her on a plate, and juice and a carton of milk. As she grabbed a fork, she nodded in response as Tom’s older gaze met her young one. ‘’Yes, I did. Thank you for making breakfast, I could’ve done it myself though, why bother when you could be resting?’’.

Tom was an old man, who was currently in his early sixties, who had been in charge of this junkyard as the last of his family lineage. His great grandfather had first taken care of this place more than a century ago, and several times his family had insisted on remaining here even though they could’ve gone to a better place. If this place died, he would die with it. That, Terra was sure of, and regarding Susan, she was your typical kind, smiling grandmother, who was just the age of Tom. 

Both elders had graying black hair, but while Tom had a cool, almost distant look in his blue eyes, Susan had an understanding, compassionate one in her green, wide eyes, hidden behind a pair of thick rimmed glasses.

‘’He wouldn’t listen to me even if I tried to convince him otherwise, Terra, he was always too stubborn’’. The elder woman said, taking a sip of the juice. ‘’Although it was for the better, I think, considering that as soon as he woke up, we heard a knock at the door, followed by the postman giving us a letter for you’’. 

After hearing this, Terra stopped dead in her tracks, putting the fork down and finishing one of the pancakes. ‘’What did that letter say?’’. She asked simply, looking at Susan with caution. 

The woman, already used to Terra’s intimidating appearance, just waved a hand in dismissal. ‘’Ah, don’t worry dear, it was nothing related to _them_. I think you should rather see it for yourself, you will be pleased to see it, I’m sure’’. With that said, she took one of the female Kitano’s hands and squeezed gently. ‘’Now, come on, eat up, or else it will get cold!!!’’. She chided her, although she couldn’t help but let out a hearty laugh as she did this. ‘’You too, Thomas, turn that stove off, and get over here, so we can eat together!’’. 

The old man, who had been silent until now, spoke in an apologetic tone. ‘’Sorry, darling, I just had to finish these ones’’. He turned the stove off, and grabbed a tray with the cooked pancakes. He walked to the table and set the tray on it, before taking a seat next to his wife. ‘’Bon appetit!’’. He wished before grabbing the maple syrup and proceeding to pour it into a pancake. 

Terra allowed herself to smile the tiniest of bits, before resuming her eating once again. Chatter was held between both elders, which the girl greatly enjoyed, not only because they respected her silence, but also because of their tales and life experiences they told, which she would often feel intrigued and pleased to hear. 

‘’So there was this one time where me and the boys were playing with this football. I was running with it, trying to outsmart one of them. This was back in the fifties, if I remember correctly. We couldn’t have been older than thirteen or fourteen at the time. So I was with the football, avoiding James and Albert, but as soon as I was about to score, Charles catches me and tackles me, and we both ended up rolling on the mud!!! Too bad that I had already crossed the makeshift ropeline though. I scored!!! And me and the boys on my team won!!! At what cost?, ah, nothin’, just a good ol’ naggin’ by my mom… ah, those were the days…’’. Tom finished his storytelling and drank a bit of juice.

‘’Tom, you forgot the part where you met me for the first time!’’. Susan scolded him, almost sounding offended.

‘’I was about to tell Terra that part!!!’’. He defended himself, raising his wrinkled hands in defense. ‘’So, after my mom came out of my house, she grabbed my hand and started telling me off, but before that, she passed by Susan’s house and started talking to her mom. And the moment I saw those emerald eyes, I knew it was her. I knew she was the one’’.

‘’Always so sweet… You haven’t changed a bit, Thomas’’. Susan said to him, smiling and letting out a warm laugh. 

After finishing breakfast, Terra excused herself, and she got up from the table, before hurriedly walking to the living room. She spotted the letter waiting for her in a sealed envelope in the table. She grabbed it as she sat in the couch, and upon closer inspection, she noticed it was a tidy red envelope. She raised an eyebrow in questioning, and tore it open, before retrieving the letter. 

‘’ _To: Terra Kitano_

_From: Doctor Peter Tezla_

_Subject: Invite_

_Greetings! You have been chosen to take part in a great project, that will allow you to take part in racing as you have_ never _seen before. If you accept, that is. To do this, though, you must first pass a test. If and once you do, this will be the beginning of an epic, action-filled journey! You will have to see it to believe it, as they say. In exchange for your cooperation, large sums of money will be given to you in compensation. If you do accept this daunting challenge, all you have to do is follow these directions I provide you on the other side of the letter._

_By the way, some of your acquaintances have been informed of this as well, so expect to see them at the test site. I’m looking forward to meeting you in person afterwards._

_Yours sincerely,_

_Doctor Peter Tezla, CEO of Scrim Corporation_ ’’

That’s exactly what the letter read, and soon enough, on the other side of the letter, there were written a series of steps on how to get to… FLORIDA???!!! ‘’Damn it, that sure is a long drive’’. She mused quietly to herself. ‘’I think Welded can handle it though’’. She mumbled, thinking about her car. It’s basically a beat up version of a Blvd Bruiser. Its lime green and black paint has certainly seen better days, but I did what I could to restore it. Same goes for the rest of it. Its namesake pretty much means that the car’s held together by a _lot_ of welding, some tape, wiring, and a crapton of prayers and hope. So far it’s taken me to many places, and I’m sure it can handle this couple-hundred-of-miles long drive. 

‘’Tom… Er-... Tom-san, Susan-sama, I’m going to get going as soon as I can’’. She announced as she walked back to the kitchen. 

‘’Stay safe, we’ll be waiting for you for whenever you come back. We’ll stay in contact through letters, or text messages’’. Tom replied, smiling at her.

Terra nodded to them, before sprinting to her room to prepare everything she would need. After some minutes of grabbing clothing and other belongings, she walked with a small bag slung over her shoulder, and made her way to the garage. She put it in the passenger seat, and sat on the driver’s seat, before starting up the engine. It roared to life without sputtering, thankfully. She nodded in satisfaction, before slowly inching her way out of the garage. She looked at her adoptive parents in the porch, who stared back and smiled at her and waved. She returned the gesture flashing a thumbs up, before focusing on the road. ‘’Let’s get going then’’. And with that being said, she sped away, until her car was no longer in sight from the junkyard.

***APPROXIMATELY A DAY AND A HALF LATER, SOMEWHERE IN MIAMI***

In a small, one story house in the latin suburbs of Florida, a young kid was playing with a Hot Wheels toy. She made it fly and made whooshing noises, before making the car land safely again, pretending it had some sort of parachute. She lifted her sight from the small object when she heard a female voice calling her. 

‘’ _¡Hermana Talia!_ ’’. The five year old child exclaimed, while looking at her older sister, who was twelve years older than her.

The older girl looked down at her sister and playfully scooped her up from the ground. ‘’How are ya’ doin’ little Juanita?’’. She asked, piggybacking her younger sister Juana.

‘’ _¡Ya porfa, bájame Talia, no es gracioso!_ ’’. (Put me down!!! This ain’t funny!). The child demanded, pouting.

Chuckling, the elder sister complained. ‘’Sorry about that, come on, dinner’s ready. Mama’s gonna be mad if you eat your tacos cold’’. Talia warned her younger sister, who rushed inside immediately after this. Talia sighed, thinking of how she and her little sister were the only ones there for her mother. She frowned when she recalled what had happened with her elder siblings shortly after their dad died. 

***FLASHBLACK, ABOUT HALF A YEAR AGO***

_The night was unusually chilly, even for a day of winter like this in the suburbs of Florida. Not a single sound could be heard except the ones coming from some people in front of a one story house in the Mexican suburbs._

‘’ _We’re moving to the West Coast, we’re gonna set up a racing team there. When we can, we’re gonna come back again. In the meantime, we’re gonna send you money whenever we’ve got enough profit. But until then, we’ll keep in touch_ ’’. _A bald, tattoed man wearing a white tank top with an open orange and blue hoodie over it, which had a japanese kanji emblazoned on its back which stood for ‘’Teku’’._

‘’ _You can’t be serious!!!’’_ . _Talia had exclaimed in utter disbelief, looking alternatively at both of her brothers in desperation. ‘’You can’t leave me and Jua alone with mom, especially not after what happened!!! Tone, come on!’’. She walked closer to Synkro and leaned on the driver’s door, fixing her eyes on Tone’s pleading._

_Tone returned the stare, looking to his left, his eyes focusing on Talia’s. The look on his eyes seemed regretful, almost apologetic. Nolo looked at Talia with an equal expression, before turning away, looking at the porch of his home._

_The bald Passaro’s lips trembled as he mumbled out a word, barely audible to Talia. ‘’Sorry’’. Was all that Tone had managed to say, before he revved the car and started driving away._

_Talia punched the car’s left back side in rage, clenching her teeth, and watched as Synkro’s retreating form became smaller in the distance until it was a dot, and then, it was no more. Ignoring her throbbing hand, she turned around and headed inside her house. ‘’I swear I’ll find them, y cuando lo haga, que Dios los ayude a ambos_ ’’. ( _And when I do, may god help them both_ ).

***END FLASHBACK***

Talia shook her head, and sighed. Now Tone is gone too. As much dread as she had for them, they were still their family, and for her mom, hearing about yet another Passaro passing away, it was just too much to handle. As the third eldest of the family, and the only one currently capable of supporting the three of them financially, Talia knew she had to be strong and move on. But it was definitely easier said than done. Anywho, I’ll allow her to take the word for now.

You already heard… _Mierda_ (shit) _…_ I’m Talia Passaro, the third out of four of my family. But don’t let my appearance, which is similar to Nolo's, fool you. We got pretty much the same face, same eyes, same hair color, but of course, mine falls down my back. And I’m shorter than him, about 5’ 2’’. But I still won’t back down from a fight if need be, eh!!! Anyways, my outfits are mostly sports and informal clothing, I won’t go into much detail about it. As you might already have figured, I live with our mother and the youngest of the Passaros, and I work full time at a generic restaurant while also taking care of some house chores. Your everyday Jane Doe, I guess. 

Either way, we’re taking the word once again. Talia was called once again by her mother, being chided about how the food was getting cold, and she replied yelling, ‘’I’m coming!’’, before briskly stepping inside the house. Luckily for her, the front door led to the dining room, which itself was adjacent to the kitchen, so she wasted no time and sat next to her little sister, and her troubled thoughts vanished, if briefly, thanks to the delicious smell which invaded her senses.

‘’ _Come hija,_ it’s getting cold, I ain’t gonna repeat myself señorita!’’. Miss Passaro sternly warned her oldest daughter from the kitchen, mere steps away.

‘’Sí ma, don’t worry’’. Talia replied, before taking a bite. She hummed in delight, chewing quickly, before going for another bite. As she looked at the food in her hands, she was called once again by her mother, but this time for something different.

‘’Talia hija, there was a letter for you. It was in a pretty red envelope, so I bet it’s important. You should take a look at it after you’re done eating, si?’’. Her mother prompted her, coming to sit next to her at the table.

‘’Really? What culd it bee?’’. Talia asked herself out loud, her mouth half full.

‘’Don’t talk with your mouth full!’’. Her little sister exclaimed, telling her off, only to receive an approving nod from her mother.

‘’Oops, sorry!’’. Talia excused herself, giggling as she gulped down her bite. As her mom and sister started talking to each other, she allowed herself to drift away into her own thoughts. The chatter became almost unintelligible as she started musing. Who in the blazes could have sent it? And what could its contents be? Was it a job offer? Or perhaps something different? Each thought brought more questions than answers. She sighed, perplexed, and allowed reality to sink in again. 

Her mother looked at her, worried. ‘’Mija, are you alright? You seemed out of your mind there’’.

Talia nodded, reassuring her. ‘’I’m alright ma’, I was just thinking, that’s all’’. She grabbed another bite, and finished dining hurriedly, while her mother kept staring at her for some more seconds before sighing and resuming her meal as well. 

A little while later and once they were done eating, Talia offered her mother to wash the dishes, to which the elder agreed and thanked her deeply for it. The young teen watched as her mother carried her half-asleep sister to the bedroom, and then she heard her heading to her own room as well. And then, silence invaded the house. 

In the tranquility of the night, Talia finished with the dishes in no time, and put them into the wringer, leaving them to dry themselves. She then turned around and saw the envelope waiting for her at the living room table, almost as if calling to her. 

She wasted no time and stalked to the table, pulling a chair and sitting down. Overcome with eagerness, she tore off the envelope and started reading the letter carefully. She took in every detail, from how the man knew his full name, the details regarding this ‘’test’’ and the name of the man who was orchestrating all this. Once she was done, she put the letter down and stared at nowhere in particular, weighing out her options. This certainly seemed interesting and worth a try, but on the other hand, she took into account she still needed to support her mom and little sister. She was on a stalemate, her responsibilities clashing against her wants. 

She was startled when she heard soft footsteps approaching her, but she soon realized it was her mother, and she allowed herself to sigh in relief. 

‘’Would you mind if I read it?’’. Miss Passaro asked, to which her daughter nodded and handed the letter to her. Some minutes later, the elder woman looked at her and spoke once again. ‘’You’re doubting if you should go, aren’t you?’’. 

Talia nodded. ‘’I don’t want to leave you and Jua to your own luck while I’m away, that’s all’’. 

Her mother squeezed her hand and looked her in the eyes. ‘’You’ve got to start to worry a bit more about yourself. You’ve already done so much for us… I think you deserve a bit of a rest…’’. She nudged her daughter with her shoulder to emphasize her point. ‘’Besides, it’s about time you kicked some dust with that thing that’s been sitting in the garage since your birthday, eh?’’. 

Talia heard her mother chuckle warmly afterwards, and she couldn’t help but muster a small smile. ‘’Yeah, I guess. I don’t lose anything for trying, so I might as well give it a chance. I’ll get going now ma’, I just need to get some clothes and money ready’’. Talia sprung from her seat and bolted to her room as quietly as possible. Some minutes later, she came back from her room with a duffel bag slung over her back. She zipped up her hoodie, and looked at herself in the mirror. Just a pair of jeans, green running shoes and her team’s hoodie, which had her team’s logo written in kanji on the upper left area of the chest. It read ‘’金属テク’’, which means, literally, Metal Teku. ‘ _’Gale’s idea… And speaking of which, she’s most likely gonna be there. I’m extremely lucky, it’s just a few miles out of the city where I gotta drive to. She is, on the other side, most likely speeding down the highway with some music blasting as she drives. Can’t wait to see them_ ’’.

‘’Well then, señorita, I’ll see you soon, I hope… Take care and stay safe, sí?’’. Her mother said as she walked to her and worriedly looked into her eyes. 

‘’Don’t worry mom, I will’’. She replied, hugging her mother tightly in a reassuring manner. Once they separated, Talia turned around and walked to the garage. She flipped the switch on and blinked, momentarily stunned by the blindingly white light. She approached the car and took off the dusty old tarp covering it, revealing a green Paradigm Shift with a silver wing on its back end, and her team’s kanji painted on the sides in black with a yellow outline. It wasn’t the best, but it sure posed a good challenge to any other racer that she might have raced. And she was proud to have built it by herself, with a bit of help from her mom and even her lil’ sis who came up with the name. She smiled as she got in the driver’s seat and thought of all the time and effort she’d put into the car. She gripped the steering wheel, her hands tightening their hold around it. ‘’We’ve got a race to win’’. She mumbled to herself as the garage door started sliding upward. She twisted the ignition, and revved the car in place, before switching to first and inching towards the street. Once outside, she spared a final glance at her house’s small porch, where her mother’s figure was waving at her. She waved back through the driver’s window before focusing back on the road. Then, she drove for a bit, before taking a turn in a corner and disappearing.

XXXXX

***SOME MINUTES LATER, AROUND MIDNIGHT IN THE COASTLINE***

Bass Vortex was the first one to arrive, and to her surprise there were a bunch of people already at the place where the race was supposed to happen. Some spectators, most likely, but there were also a couple of cars that looked as if they were there for the race too. She shrugged mentally as she pulled up near the beginning line. She got out of her car and stored her keys in her pocket, before turning down the volume a bit so she could hear her surroundings. Just idle chatter of the spectators, people going to and fro, and most noticeably something which struck her as odd, a traffic light which was hanging from some crudely-made cabling, which was sizzling to life, the colors switching erratically before turning off. Some people were milling around a control panel, shouting at each other. ‘’Yo’, that’s whack’’. She muttered, staring at the handiwork.

‘’So that’s what we’re gonna be using for the race? Damn, I was expecting something more high end… at least a standing one would do’’. A familiar female voice stated from beside her, startling her. Her headphones almost fell off when she whipped her head to the left and saw a latina girl with a zipped up hoodie walking closer to her.

‘’ _Yo!_ , sneaking up on people like that is _not_ cool’’. Gale whined, scowling slightly at Talia.

‘’Yeah, yeah, good to see you too girl, been some long ass time since I last saw you chica (girl)’’. Nolo’s counterpart replied, shaking her head, before letting out a chuckle. ‘’Nice speakers, seems that working as a DJ is paying off nicely’’. She commented, observing the Pioneer sound system on the asian’s truck

‘’I guess so’’. Gale shrugged, her brown and blue eyes focused on Talia’s hazel ones before looking over the latina’s shoulder. ‘’Yo, there’s Terra. Ay!’’. She waved at the scowling Metal Teku, who softened her frown soon enough when she saw her teammates.

Terra walked to the duo and nodded as a greeting. ‘’Where’s our rivals?’’. She asked bluntly, looking momentarily at the crowd of people. 

‘’Allí (There)’’. Talia said, pointing to a few yards to their side. 

Quite so, there were three vehicles parked neatly one beside the other, waiting for the race to begin. All of their rivals, Talia noted, were all female drivers. . ‘’This ought to be interesting’’. She mused, raising an eyebrow as she analyzed them. 

One of them was sitting on the hood of her car, a red Quick n’ Sik with the black lines as described above (in the link with the image), but with the exception that it had a white and red diamond card (like the one from the blackjack game) on the hood, and the word ‘’Diamond’’ written on the doors on white, along with the number 9 painted on the sides in the same color.

The aforementioned girl was rather short-looking, barely five feet tall, with tanned skin and of apparent latin descent. Her hair was dark brown and shoulder length and her bangs covered the left half of her forehead. Her green eyes and her bright red-painted lips contrasted with her tanned skin, even more under the glow of the streetlights. She wore a long-sleeved. black crop top with the word “Aces” in white lettering, sprawled across it under an open, red vinyl jacket with a black diamond symbol adorned on her left shoulder, and a pair of well worn, slightly stained blue jeans. Then, as she was twirling her hair idly, she noticed that someone was looking at her, and she turned her head in the Metal Teku’s direction and stared at them for some moments, before she was called by a teammate of hers. She turned back in her companion’s direction, and walked to them. 

The trio of Metal Teku girls were now looking at two other girls, one of which looked Japanese and one who looked latin as well. The Japanese girl was very short as well, with long dyed dark red hair that reached up to her mid-back. Her grayish brown eyes were focused on her white MS-T Suzuka, which had light gray flame decals on the sides, with a black number 8 on each side. It also sported red hearts on the hood, along with the number 8 once again, but in black. The cockpit was barely visible due to the scarce light and the blue tinted windows the vehicle had. 

‘’Lucy-chan, ah there you are!!! So, can you help me?’’. The asian-looking girl pleaded with a somewhat high-pitched voice, making a fake pouting face. 

The girl of latin descent groaned audibly, and spoke, ‘’What now, Kaiya?’’, with a tired voice as she crossed her arms in frustration. 

Kaiya’s face lit up as she opened the door of her car and beckoned Lucy to look inside. ‘’I can’t get the neon inside lights to work!!!’’. She whined, stepping on the ground in exasperation.

‘’That thing again?, why do you want to make the inside of your car look like a nightclub?’’. Lucy sighed, punching the steering wheel as she sat inside and started fiddling with the cables that fed electricity to the lights of the dashboard and the inside of the roof.

A loud chuckle was heard as the third girl, a light-blonde haired fellow who was rather fair skinned, spoke, dusting off her clothing. ‘’Lucy, if she wants to make her car like it, then leave her be!!! Your own car’s a mess with the leftover food boxes and random sketches of characters you make and nobody ain’t telling you to clean it, _pedazo de boluda_ ’’. (Piece of fool). The blonde grinned after seeing her teammate’s reaction inside the car. She absentmindedly dusted off her team’s white hoodie (which had a big spade and the word ‘’Aces’’ written underneath it, both in black), as she heard her tanned teammate swearing at her. ‘’Te escucho pero me chupa un huevo’’. (I hear ya but idgaf). She then turned around and spared a glance at her car, a Golden Arrow with a blue paint coat, flame pattern on the sides in a lighter blue, and a yellow colored rooftop and glasses. Of course, she had a spade on the hood, depicting her position in her team, and on the sides near both doors’ edges there was the number 10 painted in bright white. 

The three girls milling around their card game-themed cars soon noticed the rival team females were looking at them with a mixture of curiosity and caution, so they approached them to introduce each other.

‘’Hiya!!!’’. Kya was the first one to break the silence, focusing on the headphones-wearing Metal Teku. ‘’Nice headphones!!!’’. She complimented her would-be rival, nodding in approval. ‘’I’m Kaiya, but you can call me Kya’’. She finished, putting her hands on her sides and leaning on one foot. 

‘’Yo’, yours are cool too, that white’s sick. I’m Gale’’. The blue jacket-wearing Metal Teku replied in a cool, neutral voice. 

‘’Qué onda?’’. (Sup?) Talia asked, jerking her head in Lucy’s direction. ‘’I’m Talia, y ustedes que onda?’’. (What about you?) she asked cautiously.

‘’Eyyyy, finally someone who understands us better!!!’’. The light blonde piped in energetically. She appeared to be of a rather vivid and fierce character. ‘’I’m Annabelle, but you can call me Ana or Ani, nice to meet you!!!’’. She then gestured to her tanned teammate. ‘’And this one’s Lucia, or Lucy’’.

‘’Hey, que onda?’’. She greeted Talia, nodding. Her green eyes then turned to the unmoving, silent as a stone Metal Teku. ‘’What’s up with her?’’.

‘’I’m Terra’’. The brown-eyed Kitano replied bluntly, only for her to become silent once more. 

‘’She’s just like that, don’t mind her’’. Talia assured, to which the three other girls just nodded and/or shrugged. ‘’So, what’s up with your cars and your clothing?’’.

‘’We’re the Queens of Aces’’. Ana asserted firmly, with a touch of proudness in her voice.

‘’ _That’s original, I’ll give them credit for that’_ ’. Talia mused mentally, before speaking once again. ‘’Nice name, we are the Metal Teku… though I think it’s been enough talking… ladies, shall we race?’’. She extended her arms with a challenging grin akin to Nolo’s, and the trio of card game-themed racers nodded enthusiastically. 

‘’Let’s show ‘em who’s the ace ‘round here, girls’’. Anna, enlivened, mumbled to her team, with a glint of determination in her eyes, receiving two equally-determined nods.

‘’Let’s tune some metal, girls’’. Talia cheered, walking to Techtyte and opening the door. She got inside and closed the door.

The six girls all fastened their seatbelts and turned on the ignition in their cars as the streetlight hanging in front of them finally sparked to life, idly standing on red.

Little did they know that at the same time but several hundreds miles away in the other coast, there was another race happening at the same time as theirs. Who’s going to win? What will await whoever wins? We will see in the next chapter of… _Acceleracers: Reborn!_


	2. Clashes on the Coasts

**AcceleRacers: Reborn**

An Acceleracers fanfiction written by octavio675, sailorchickenwing and 733S.

**A/N:** ok so there was a mistake in the design for the Golden Arrow from the last chapter. It actually has a white base coat with black and red “Queens of Aces’ Vinyls on the car.

_   
_ **DISCLAIMER:** **WE DON’T OWN NOTHING EXCEPT FOR MY OCS. Credits for the other OCs (Metal Teku) go to Shadowofthedragons/Shads42, a good friend of mine. Tyvm for letting me use them back then, and now as well. Acceleracers and Highway 35 are property of Mattel, Mainframe Entertainment/Rainmaker Studios and etc, etc. We are IN NO WAY, SHAPE OR FORM profitting from this.**

Well, without much more to say, here goes chapter 1. Enjoy!!!

**AcceleRacers: Reborn**

**Part one: Ignition**

**Chapter One: Clashes on the Coasts**

**  
** ***CALIFORNIA, A BIT BEFORE MIDNIGHT, WEST COAST***

It was dark, the sky was painted and embroidered with stars along the rocky cliffside where the race was set to take place. The night held an aura of beauty and danger at the same time. The cliffside was full of sharp curves, flimsy barriers and other hazards which could take out inexperienced drivers in the blink of an eye. 

On a particularly straight part of the route that surrounded the cliffs, there was a moderate sized clearing, about half a stadium in size, which was used as a crude parking lot. There, several high end-looking cars were parked in a random pattern. To be precise, there were 6 of them. Only two of them were a ‘’brand’’ one, so to speak, the other ones seemed to be custom made, as if they were built from scratch to appeal to their owners’ liking.

One of the vehicles, which resembled some sort of truck with its back end filled with a bunch of speakers, was playing some music at a mild volume, pleasant enough to vibe to, but low enough to be able to hold normal chatter. Its owner was an asian looking individual in his late teens, or possibly early 20s, who was bopping his head idly to the music while shuffling his feet against the rocky ground. 

Then, there was another one who was a blonde teen with spiky hair and blue eyes, what you’d call the typical Cali’ surfer. He stopped leaning against his car and stepped closer to someone with an orange and blue jacket who had his back turned against him. The blonde took on a self-assertive tone and spoke. ‘’I know the Coast Road better than anybody Nolo’’. His only answer, however, was a disregarding chuckle from his leader, and that seemed to frustrate him even more, for when he talked again, he did so with annoyance and insistence in his voice. "Dude!!! I used to come out here surfing before I could even drive!!!".

Nolo let out a "hmph" of indifference and shrugged. "Whatever, man, I was driving  _ before _ I could drive". And with that being said, he turned his back on Vert and walked away from him.

"What does that even mean?". The blonde shot back in a challenging manner with a raised eyebrow and his arms extended in confusion.

Nolo frowned and turned around once more. " **REMEMBER WHO'S THE TEKU LEADER, HUH?** ". He snapped, his hazel eyes drilling into Vert's. 

The entirety of the team, the aforementioned asian from before, the sole female teku, an orange-goggles wearing dude and another latino, looked at the both of them arguing, before focusing back on their tasks. 

Nolo, aware that he was being watched, stepped closer to the surfrat and squinted his eyes. "This is  _ my  _ race Vert, stay out of it". He seethed, shoving the blonde away before walking to his car.

Vert, equally furious, sighed dejectedly. "He's only the leader because of his brother". He stated to no one in particular, before storming off to his car.

"Hey, it's Nolo's call who races!!!". The goggles-wearing man replied, although Vert didn't even mind him.

"Leave him be Kurt, he's not gonna listen to anyone anyways". A voice called over to the goggled man. 

Kurt whipped his head in the direction of the sound and noticed it came from one of his teammates. A man of average height and build, with short dark brown hair with the top combed to the side, same colored eyes, and a two-hues-of-blue Teku jacket with the logo painted in white in its back and on the front, on the left pectoral. He had his eyes locked on Nolo's car, and his hands in the pockets of his black jogging pants. 

"But if he's just mad because he can't race, we should talk it out with him, shouldn't we Oct???". Kurt said, looking at Octavio.

"I don't think so, we'd just piss him off more. We'll just have to wait till he calms down". The brown-haired youngster replied. "And speaking of waiting, looks like time's up". He took his hands off his pockets and stopped leaning against his blue Nissan Skyline, as he heard a series of engines rumbling not too far away.

Quite so, mere seconds later four muscle cars pulled up. One of them being a Plymouth Roadrunner, another which looked like an SUV, a Dodge Charger RT, and a custom made one.

From the Roadrunner emerged an asian-looking man with black hair, who looked in Kurt's direction and spoke loud enough for everyone to hear. "Are the Teku here to race???". His face then contorted into a smirk and he snidely added. "Or to fight???".

From the custom-built, red muscle car came a six feet six, beefy African-American with black hair and cool emerald eyes, which soon locked into the Teku leader's hazel eyes. The muscular man's were neutral, cold and assessing, whereas the teen's were raging with hatred and craving for revenge. 

***MEANWHILE, SOME MILES AHEAD***

A car sped down the coastal route, its speed greatly exceeding the 55 miles max speed allowed by law. Inside, its driver, with shades covering his frowning eyes, shifted gears and focused on driving. He clenched his teeth as his mind wandered back to some months ago.

***BRIEF FLASHBACK***

‘’ _ Look what you’ve turned into _ ’’.  _ A chiding voice scolded him.  _

‘’ _ Screw you Kurt!!! You’re not my big brother anymore, aight?! You’re scrap, like all Teku!!! _ ’’. The shades-wearing youngster replied, annoyed, shoving his brother away bluntly.

‘’ _ Markie!!!’’ _ ,  _ the orange-goggle wearing elder pleaded, only to receive a brutal hit directly in his nose, which knocked him out cold and probably broke it, judging by the sickening crunch that was heard as soon as he was hit.  _

_The black-shaded man stared into his brother’s limp body, staring into the cracked orange goggles. He grit his teeth and spitefully corrected him. ‘’The name_ ** _is Wylde_** _’’._ _Pointing at his brother’s still form for emphasys_.

***END FLASHBACK***

The man kept speeding down the road, taking a few more curves before reaching his destination. His frown changed to a smirk of satisfaction. Whatever he had in mind, would certainly affect the race which was about to happen…

The man reached a straight part of the route, with a small clearing on his right. He hit the brakes and stopped suddenly, the tires screeching in protest. He turned his head to his left and looked at his team leader.

‘’Why didn’t ya’ tell me we were takin’ on the Teku?’’. He demanded with annoyance in his voice, as if demanding an explanation.

‘’It’s me against Nolo’’. The elder African-American replied with a calm, but firm voice. ‘’Das’ how we havin’ it’’. Leaving no room for debate, he switched gears to first and crept closer so his car, Hollowback, was even with Nolo’s. 

Angry beyond measure, Wylde yelled back. ‘’ **_I want them Tork!!! I want them all!!! Yer knew that from the start!!!_ ** ’’. His words, of course, fell on deaf ears. He grunted in resignation as he punched Spinebuster’s steering wheel. 

A couple of dozen yards ahead, a scrawny man with an orange-goatee and hair, was struggling with a portable traffic light, which he promptly lit up kicking it after flipping the switch several times. He stepped back off of it and pulled out a walkie-talkie, where he asked someone on the other end if it was clear. When the reply came through that it wasn’t, he urged the person on the other end to make sure it was, adding that ‘’these guys aren’t gonna wait much longer!!!’’. 

As both drivers recalled different events which led to this moment, some others were also about to race as well, on the opposite end of the country though.

***MEANWHILE, EAST COAST, SOME MILES AWAY FROM MIAMI***

**(Cue the music, How we roll - MATTN vs 2 faced funks)**

The six cars put even and revved their engines idly. All the girls were ready to kick some dust. The tension in the air was almost unbearable. The crowd watched expectantly as the overhead low-hanging traffic light buzzed to life, and the announcer got in the middle of the street. He lifted both hands, and yelled loudly over the sound of the cars idling in place. ‘’READY???’’. The girls only revved their engines once more in response, eager and on the brink of impatience. ‘’SET?...’’. The cars inched impossibly closer forward, and the man brought both his arms down, yelling, ‘’ **GOOOOOOOO!!!!!!** ’’. At the same time as the traffic light swapped from red to green, all six cars sped away, kicking up dust. 

The race was taking place on Interstate 95, and the destination was the private airstrip of Peter Tezla. They had already set the destination on their GPS, and the fastest way to get there and the most logical way to get there, under the circumstances, was said to be the highway. It was, at most (and considering the high speeds they were bound to reach), a half an hour drive.

The road was clear of people and cops, only the occasional small crowd watching and cheering as the cars passed by, so they focused on racing. Visibility was scarce, considering it was almost 3 AM. 

Talia and Annabelle were fighting the lead, with Paradigm Shift and Golden Arrow being even. Both cars were inches away from each other, their sides almost touching. Some feet away came Lucia and Terra in third and fourth place respectively, while in the last row came the music-blasting girls who were, comparatively, cruising around, with their music volume set to the max and playfully fighting for the 5th place. 

Talia swerved a tad bit to the right, and her car scraped some paint off of Ana’s, who in turn replied by smashing the Metal Teku’s co-leader right side. 

‘HEY!!! RETROCEDE BASURA!!! (Back off, trash!!!)’’. Talia yelled, sparing a glance to her right, before looking at the road once again.

‘’BASURA ES TU ROPA!!!’’. (Trash’s your clothing!!!) The light-blonde replied, before slamming Talia’s side once more, sending sparks and paint flying. 

Talia grunted from the impact, and shook her head. ‘’ _ If that’s how you wanna play, fine by me, but you’re gonna have to catch me if you wanna do that’ _ ’. She mumbled to herself, before shifting gears and pressing the gas pedal further down, her speedometer reaching 160 miles an hour. 

‘’ _ No te preocupes, I’ll catch you in no time ( _ Don’t worry)’’. Ani whispered, shifting gears too and stomping on the gas pedal, Golden Arrow’s speedometer climbing to a bit above 165 miles per hour. She got behind Talia, taking advantage of the air flow, and drafted for some seconds before her speed exceeded 170 and even a bit more. She passed her same-ethnicity rival and looked at her bewildered expression, smirking at her before turning to look forward once more.

Behind both girls fighting for the lead, there was Terra, who was swerving to the left and right, trying to prevent Lucy from overtaking her. The female Kitano nodded to herself in satisfaction, seeing the latina’s annoyed reaction through the mirror. And not too far behind them, we have both japanese girls blasting to music, who were still undecided about who was gonna keep the fifth place. 

Talia and Annabelle saw the outline of something in the distance. A rather tall tower with some hangars next to it. Bewilderment struck them for a moment as their teammates caught up with them.

‘’ _ An airstrip? Qué??? (what???) Why would a place like this be the finish of the race? _ ’’. Anna wondered as her foot slightly loosened on the gas, allowing Talia to take the lead once again. She suddenly realized she was lagging behind and thus grunted in annoyance, before shifting gears and stomping down the pedal, once again putting even with the Metal Teku’s coleader.

Just a few feet behind them, the remaining girls were tailing them, almost bumping into their cars.

Anna and Talia both looked at each other with their brows furrowed. Their eyes fixated on each other before they both slammed into each other simultaneously, before splitting up and turning to the front as they suddenly saw a fork on the road that lead straight to the airstrip. Just a few feet more and they might’ve  _ all  _ missed it. The six cars, one after the other, slowed down abruptly and turned a hard right, before resuming once again their march. The finish line was just a mile ahead. 

As they were nearing the quarter of a mile, Talia suddenly focused on one of the two hangars opening, and her jaw slacked open as she saw one of the biggest aircraft her eyes had ever met. This allowed her opponent to overtake her and gain a good distance on her. But when she realized, she had already lost quite a bit of ground. Undeterred, she switched gears and started drafting, and then put up next to the other racer. Both girls were almost head to head. The finish line was just a hundred yards ahead. Fifty yards… A hundred feet!!! And then…

**_*SCREEEEEEEEEECH!!!!!!*_ ** Both leading cars, Techtyte and Golden Arrow crossed the finish line almost at the same time. However, the latter did so having half a car of difference. Both of them came to a screeching halt, and soon so did the rest of their teammates.

Talia climbed out of her car and slammed the door shut, a frown creased on her face. ‘’ _Maldita!!! (_ Damn you!!!) I was this close of getting you!!!’’. She exclaimed, pointing at her light blonde opponent as she stepped out of her own vehicle.

Anna snickered. ‘’ _ No te voy a mentir  _ (I ain’t gonna lie to you) _ ,  _ you almost got me there though. It was a close win, but still a win nevertheless’’. She leaned against her car as she saw the Nolo look-alike clench her fists.

Terra came out of Welded and stared at the rival team’s winner before looking to her own leader. ‘’Hold it, Talia. You did what you could’’. She said to the tanned latina, her usual half-scowl on her face. 

Talia sighed and nodded, dropping her anger and giving pass to newfound confidence. ‘’Still, I’m up for a rematch… Sadly, I don’t know when will it happen…’’. She made a brief pause to look at the plane and then finished. ‘’Cause it seems we’re gonna be parting ways’’. There was a hint of dejection in her voice.

‘’Yo’, I liked racing with y’all’’. Gale chimed in coolly. She then turned to her counterpart of the other team. ‘’Ay, Kya, right?, wanna trade numbers?’’. She made a rock and roll sign with her thumb stretched, receiving a nod in approval and the same hand gesture.

Kaiya beamed, smiling gleefully. ‘’Sure thing!!! Here’s mine’’. She stepped closer to Gale and they both started typing madly into each other’s flip phones. Both of them didn’t seem to mind the fact that they had come both on last place. Having made a possible new friendship seemed more enticing.

Lucy took note of this as she came out of Quick n’ Sik, and her mouth remained slightly ajar in awe. ‘’Wow… Well, at least I beat the statue over there’’. She said, jerking her head in Terra’s direction. ‘’I crossed in third place, and she came on fourth, hehe’’.

Terra raised an eyebrow at being called a statue, and both her teammates chuckled lightly. She looked over her shoulder at both of them before shaking his head, disregarding them.

Suddenly, a male voice interrupted them all. ‘’It was a good race for sure, but I’m afraid to tell you that  _ all  _ will come’’. The unknown voice stated as the girls turned in the direction of the noise. Soon, their eyes landed on a man with a tank top and cargo jeans as his clothing. ‘’I’m Clarence Callahan, you can just call me Razor. I’m here on doc’ Tezla's behalf. He told me to make sure all of you came’’. The man with short brown hair added. There was no discernible emotion in his voice, aside from small fascination from the stunts they pulled in the race and their antics from minutes ago. 

Talia, suspicious, stared at the man for a moment, analyzing him. ‘’Didn’t he say the winners only would be able to come?’’.

Razor shook his head firmly. ‘’Nope, he said that only to create competition between you all. He believes competition leads to motivation’’. 

The Metal Teku co-leader turned to both of her teammates, who shrugged at the same time, their faces showing they were as confused as she herself was. Talia then turned to the man again and nodded. ‘’Alright then, Cal- erm, Razor. What now?’’.

The man smiled widely as he produced a walkie-talkie from his back pocket and spoke into it. ‘’Hey Shephard, you there bud?’’. 

‘’ _ Reading you loud and clear bud, are they here yet? _ ’’. A voice came from the other side, loud enough for everyone to hear.

‘’You bet your former marine ass they did. Open up the ramp and let them through’’. He commanded, receiving an affirmative ‘’ _ copy that _ ’’ from Shephard.

Anna was the one to break the silence after Razor finished talking through. ‘’Ramp? You mean we are gonna be flying now?’’. She saw the man nod as the ramp started to slide open, creating a sudden racket and making the girls wince at the sound. ‘’ **But WHERE are we going to???** ’’. She yelled over the top of her lungs, barely audible over the sound of the ramp and the turbines starting. 

‘’ **California!!! You’re gonna fly for about three hours!!! Y’all better rest while you can!!! You’re gonna need it!!!** ’’. Clarence replied, stepping back as the plane’s ramp kept lowering.

A hollow  **CLANG!** was heard as the ramp hit the ground. Some yelling and curses were heard, and two men, both wearing camo clothing, reprimanded each other. One of them was an african american, and the other was a red-haired man with black-rimmed glasses. 

They turned around and walked closer to the group of girls and politely nodded, introducing themselves. ‘’Madams, I am George Tower, and this thin dude you see next to me, is Eddie Toh, but you can call us Tower and Eddie, for short’’. The african american spoke. He was a head taller than the scrawny bespectacled man, who frowned at him. ‘’We’ll get you to California in no time. By the time we get there, it’s gonna be early morning, so you better rest during the flight’’. 

After the introduction, the girls, one by one, drove their cars inside the plane’s massive cargo bay, before the ramp was closed shut, and then they remained inside as the plane started taxiing until it got in one end of the runway. They felt the four powerful turbofans vibrate as the plane started moving. Seconds later, they were going hundreds of miles an hour as the plane reached enough speed and they were no longer in the ground. The cars, however, were held securely in place by several straps and ties that the girls and the pilots had prepared beforehand.

A couple of minutes later, they had reached enough height and they deemed it safe enough to get out of their cars. Talia was the first to do so, and she, along with Terra, joined the other team’s duo of Anna and Lucy. 

‘’ _ Algo huele mal acerca de este tipo _ ’’. Talia stated, looking at both of them with a bit of concern and precaution. ‘’Something seems shady bout this guy’’. She repeated, briefly looking at Terra, who nodded in understanding now. 

Anna raised an eyebrow, still not understanding. ‘’And what would that be?’’. She queried, looking Talia in the eye.

‘’Listen, this plane’s a C5 Galaxy… It’s a military grade cargo plane worth…  _ at the very least _ … several dozen million dollars’’. Talia explained, looking at both rival racers, as they nodded. 

‘’So… what? If he can spare a couple dozen million dollars on a big whirry engine thingy, he can surely pay us a couple hundred grands, can’t he?’’. The light-blonde snickered, before being hit in the back of the head by her green-eyed teammate. ‘’Ow!!!’’. She whined, rubbing her nape.

‘’That’s not the point. I just feel a bit uneasy about all of this…’’. The hazel-eyed teen commented, looking at her car.

Annabelle was hit by realization suddenly, and she found herself deep in thought. ‘’ _ She may be right, something’s not right here… but what could it be? Maybe we’re gonna be racing in time? Or space? No, it can’t be… That sounds straight out of a sci-fi movie for kids!!! _ ’’. She shook her head and spoke, getting everyone’s attention. ‘’Even if what you say is true, we haven’t got nothing solid to distrust this guy so far. So I say we should do the next…’’. The rival team’s racers nodded, urging her silently to continue. ‘’We make a truce… For now, and go with caution to meet this… Tezla dude, eh? What do you think?’’. She extended her hand towards Talia, waiting for a handshake.

Talia hmphed before nodding, a grin on her face. ‘’Deal’’. She simply said, shaking her rival’s hand. Once they shook hands, the blonde yawned, and so did her teammate. 

‘’Well, I guess we should ease up and rest. See you in a couple of hours’’. And with that, the blonde and the tanned Aces got inside their cars and got to sleep.

Terra and Talia both nodded to each other and promptly did the same. Time went by slowly during the next couple of hours as the plane soared several thousand feet high in the sky at hundreds of miles an hour, the only signs of life being the pilots bantering about something in Black Mesa. 

XXXXX

***BACK IN EL SEGUNDO’S COAST ROAD*** ****

(Cue the music, Clash on the Coast)

Both leaders revved up their engines in place, waiting while Monkey was still fidgeting with the portable traffic light. He kicked and punched it, and surprisingly, this seemed to do the trick, because immediately afterwards the device shot a beam of red light into the sky, bright enough for everyone to see in about half a mile radius. 

Meanwhile, Nolo inside of his car, was remembering the very event which led to this race taking place…

***FLASHBACK***

‘’ _ You tryna take my place? _ ’’.  _ A bald man with a goatee asked his younger sibling, eyeing him with curiosity. _

‘’ _ I know I can beat Tork!!! _ ’’.  _ The younger one asserted, only receiving a chuckle from his brother as an answer.  _ ‘’ _ Come on, Tone! Let me race him!!! _ ’’.  _ He pleaded desperately, looking into his brother’s eyes. _

‘’ _ You’re gonna be the leader now,  _ hermanito ( _ lil bro _ ) _? _ ’’.  _ Tone replied, playfully punching Nolo in the shoulder.  _

_ Minutes later, two cars sped down an indistinct Californian boulevard. The first one of them, a golden coat painted car with dragon decals and a spoiler on its rear end, was in the lead, with its bald driver sporting a smirk as he looked at the rearview mirror and noticed the lagging shape of a red muscle car with its engine exposed on the hood. _

_ The muscle car’s driver, a towering African American, growled in annoyance, as he stomped on the gas pedal. Drafting with the other car, he soon put even with it. He rear ended it, making its driver wince and look at him equally annoyed. _

_ Both cars zoomed past a shoulder-length, black-haired teen who was watching the race with utmost interest. But it soon changed to one of worry as the two cars neared a curve, and the muscle car seemed to bump into the golden one, causing the latter to spin out uncontrollably, before it crashed against a lamppole, knocking it out of place, followed by the car crashing its side against a building, and then being sent out soaring in the sky several feet, tracing an arc from one sidewalk to another, only for it to crash front bumper-first into another business, blowing up in an inferno of flames and smoke.  _

_ The deafening explosion was followed by the fading rumbling of an engine and an anguished scream calling out to the golden car’s driver. _

***END FLASHBACK***

Nolo snapped back to reality and turned to his left, looking at Tork with burning hatred and revulsion. The Metal Maniac leader regarded his rival with a half stare, barely turning his head in his direction. His emerald eyes held no hard feelings, if anything, they only shed a bit of empathy towards the younger Teku. 

***FLASHBACK***

‘’ _ That Teku won’t even make it to the finish _ ’’.  _ Tork had stated, with a scowl on his face as he assessed Tone’s car.  _

‘’ _ Eeeeh, Tone’s good _ ’’.  _ Taro Kitano, one of his teammates, had countered, grinning. _

‘’ _ Yeah?, and so what? I’m better _ ’’.  _ The African American boasted, glaring at his teammate, who only shrugged in response _ .

***END FLASHBACK***

‘’ **_ALL CLEAR!_ ** ’’. Came the reply through the mechanic’s walkie-talkie.

That was all that both drivers needed to hear, as the traffic light coincidentally switched to green. Both leaders switched gears and slammed their feet on the gas as they sped away, making Monkey duck and yell in alert, both cars narrowly missing him. 

‘’Here they cooooome!!!!’’. The goatee-sporting mechanic announced, looking at the shrinking cars in the horizon.

All of a sudden, one of the Maniacs decided he’d had enough and yelled to no one in particular. ‘’Screw this, I’m gonna show ‘em what Wylde is all about!!!’’. He declared arrogantly, before throwing his car in reverse, driving some feet backwards and then doing a 180 degree spin. He slid the gearshift into first and sped away, chasing after both racers. 

‘’ **WYLDE!** ’’. Taro called him out, but it was no use.

The remaining Maniac, a scruffy, dark blonde haired teen shook his head and made a run for his own car, a red 1973 Dodge Charger R/T with a black carbon fiber hood and black Metal Maniac symbols engraved on the doors. 

‘’What are you doing Martu?’’. His Teku counterpart and best friend questioned him from not too far.

He closed the door and turned the ignition before replying. ‘’Going after them!!! To make sure none of these  _ boludos ( _ dumbasses _ ) _ get hurt!’’. He yelled over the roar of the engine. He released the clutch and stomped on the gas, hightailing it out of there, being followed closely by Taro and Monkey. 

‘’ _ Mierda  _ (Shit)!!!!, we better do the same to check on Nolo’’. The brown-haired Teku said, his teammates nodding in agreement. He was the first to climb inside his car, a blue Nissan Skyline GTR R-34. The neon lights under the car turned on, giving the car’s white  _ Teku  _ words on the sides a pale hue. The hood shook lightly as the vehicle spurred to life, and on it could be seen a white Teku kanji. He chased after the opposing team, and so did all of the Teku, sans Shirako, who was still listening to his music.

XXXXX

Nolo soon took the lead, getting several yards ahead of his archrival. He smirked triumphantly as he took winding curves left and right with extreme ease, much to his rival’s annoyance. This would be peasy.

Or maybe not, considering how Tork, far from being willing to give up the race, growled furiously before switching gears and slamming his foot on the gas pedal, the ultra-lite carbon fiber speedometer climbing up to one hundred and forty miles an hour. He passed Nolo through the inside of the curve, and the tides soon turned against the latin Teku, who lagged behind. 

Nolo shifted gears as well, and pressed harder on the throttle. Instants later, Synkro’s front bumper almost bumped into Hollowback’s rear end. The Teku used this to his advantage, and drafted with Tork for some seconds, before putting up next to him once again. Both leaders crossed eyes for a moment, before they fixated their gazes on the route-turned-into racetrack once again. 

The path suddenly had a wide right turn, which Hollowback took just fine, but Nolo had some difficulty taking it, his brother’s memories playing in his mind. A loud  **_CLANG!_ ** was heard as Synkro knocked off a safety sign, and that brought its driver back to reality. ‘’ _ You’re gonna be the leader now, little bro? _ ’’.  _ His  _ words resonated in his mind, and Nolo found it too difficult to concentrate, seeing as he drifted to and fro, his tires momentarily skidding out of the paved part of the road and into the dirt. He snarled, shaking his head. Nolo looked up and for a second he swore he could definitely see Tork smirking at him. That was it. He turned on the music system, playing his trademark theme, and he allowed the speakers on the back of the car to aid him in his driving. 

With his spirit renovated, Nolo nodded in satisfaction as he switched gears again, this time getting next to his rival. He looked at him with determination clear in his eyes and brusquely turned the steering wheel to the side, effectively pinning Tork against the safety railing. Sparks and paint flew off as both cars were next to each other, and over the ruckus created by the scraping noise, Nolo yelled to his enemy. ‘’ **_THIS IS FOR TONE!!!_ ** ’’. 

Alas, Tork was also gonna play by those rules if the kid demanded to. He flipped a switch in Hollowback’s dashboard, and from the side of the engine, a set of flames erupted abruptly, forcing the golden car to retreat to a safe distance, thus leaving a gap between the both of them wide enough to let a car  _ squeeze _ , in the literal sense.

And squeeze between them a car did, indeed, for Spinebuster appeared out of nowhere and forced its way through the battling leaders. Nolo and Tork both yelped in surprise and confusion as the man in sunglasses sped away from them, screaming like a madman. Once he’d passed, both remaining cars hit each other and lost control, spinning out wildly. 

Hollowback hit the safety rail and flipped over several times until it landed, resting forty five degrees against the guardrail. Synkro, on the other hand, overturned multiple times before hitting a small rock formation, knocking some of them out of place and landing on top of it. Nolo violently hit his nape against the headrest in the process, and he winced in pain, silently thanking the seat belt.

The speeding madman chuckled before yelling out, cheering to himself. ‘’ **Goooooo Wyyyyyyyldeeeee!!!!** ’’. 

So full of himself he was that he barely had time to react and avoid the floating piece of… metal??? which felt surprisingly familiar. In a swift motion, he slammed the brakes and turned the steering wheel, attempting to stop. He was going too fast, though, and thus ended up spinning out before hitting the guardrail, snapping it and plummeting down into the ocean floor below.

Panicking, Wylde yelled in terror as he unconsciously flipped a switch in the dashboard, and a grappling hook shot from above the car’s front fender. It embedded itself firmly into the cliff wall, and thus the shades wearing man was spared from meeting his makers. 

Seconds later seven cars pulled up, four being rival racers, and other three being the almost-dead Maniac’s teammates. They all hastily got off their cars before running towards the crash site. The jumpy mechanic from before was the first to reach the broken guardrail. Clutching into a speed limit sign, he overlooked the ocean below, and soon found Spinebuster attempting to climb up.

‘’ **WYLDE’S OKAY!!!** ’’. He shouted, turning his head in his team’s direction. ‘’He’s cranking back up!!!’’. He added, before walking away from the edge of the cliff.

Meanwhile, the goggles-wearing Teku allowed himself to sigh before walking up to the floating heap of metal which had startled Wylde, along with his blonde teammate and the other latin Teku.

‘’What are  _ you  _ doing here?’’. Vert questioned, looking at Gig’s yellow robotic eyes.

‘’Doctor Tezla  _ needs  _ you’’. The machine answered, floating a bit closer to them for emphasys.

‘’Oh yeah? What about after the World Race when we needed him to give us more Nitrox? He didn’t give a shit and wouldn’t even talk with us!!!’’. The spiky black haired man snapped back, frowning at the non-sentient machine.

‘’Doctor Tezla needed all of the fuel he could gather for his research’’. Gig replied, defending his owner.

‘’Well, what  _ we  _ wanted was to go through the portals again!!! And race in Highway 35!!!’’. Vert said, adding to what Kurt had said, frowning in distrust at Gig. 

‘’ _ No one _ can pass through the portals now’’. The floating robot declared, surprising the trio of drivers, who turned around at the sound of footsteps and realized their sole female teammate was making her way towards them. ‘’Gelorum and her Racing Drones have taken possession of the Wheel of Power’’.

‘’And what are we supposed to do about it? Race for him again?’’. Kurt asked sarcastically with his arms outstretched, but seeing as how the machine didn’t reply, either because it was incapable of detecting sarcasm or because Tezla  _ truly  _ wanted them to race for him again, he sighed in defeat as he regarded the machine one last time. ‘’Where do we need to go to?’’.

‘’You’ll meet up with Brian Kadeem in the former Leg 3 Headquarters and he will brief you on further details’’. Gig answered, as both former World Racers turned Teku nodded to each other and went to their cars while Octavio looked at them confused as hell. ‘’We’ll explain on the way there’’. Vert assured him, to which he shrugged and made a beeline for his Skyline as well.

The female Teku squinted at the machine and asked it, utterly curious. ‘’These Drones… what are they?... are they good?’’.

‘’They’re robots, built for driving. They’re literally perfect’’. Gig replied flatly.

‘’Perfect…’’. Karma repeated, smirking as she imagined the challenge they’d pose.

The machine shrugged its nonexistent shoulders, and after politely saying goodbye, it floated away, heading back to the Acceledrome.

Meanwhile, the mechanic Maniac walked to his asian teammate with a happy expression on its face. ‘’Hey Taro, what’s this Wheel of Power business?, what does it mean?’’.

The stoic man regarded Monkey with a nonchalant look. ‘’Trouble’’. He flatly replied, walking to his Roadrunner.

Monkey insisted, following him some steps. ‘’Is this Tezla dude gonna pay? Wylde said he did pay the winners from this World Rice thingy a big stack of cash when they won’’. 

Taro, annoyed by Monkey not even getting the World Race’s name right, cut him off bluntly. ‘’Are  _ you  _ coming?’’.

‘’You think Tork would mind?’’. The redhead mechanic asked, seemingly a bit taken aback. He glanced at his leader, who was struggling and punching his car’s hood to no avail, almost falling backwards. He then yelled to Taro to wait for him.

Meanwhile, Nolo had stumbled out of his wrecked car and walked to his teammates with difficulty, grunting in pain as his left leg limped. He had some bruises and his hair and clothing were a mess as well. ‘’Get me a car!!!’’. He demanded angrily. ‘’I want to finish this thing tonight!’’.

Not a single one of his fellow racers paid him any mind, everyone still heading to their respective vehicles. The only one who seemed to mind him was his same-ethnicity companion, who regarded him with a half scowl. 

‘’There’s something we’ve got to do Nolo’’. He simply pointed out, ignoring his leader’s confused face.

‘’ _ Qué? Nada es más importante que el Teku!!! _ ’’. Nolo protested, taking on a more calm and defensive tone. (What? Nothing’s more important than the Teku!).

‘’ _ Lo siento Nolo,  _ but this is’’. Octavio replied with an apologizing look, before casting his eyes away and climbing inside his car. (I’m sorry Nolo,)

One by one, all the Teku cars zoomed past the injured driver, who then clenched his fists until his nails dug into his palms. Immediately after, he screamed atop his lungs in frustration, before turning around as he heard a rumbling engine approaching, which was soon revealed to be the white truck-like vehicle with speakers we saw before. 

XXXXX

***A COUPLE OF HOURS LATER, AT SUNRISE*.**

All of the drivers had taken Highway 35 for several miles until they reached a rocky, uninhabited desert. Once there, they got off the pavement and into the sandy terrain. The scenery around them was extremely inhospit and barren, with endless stretches of sandy terrain with the occasional tumbleweed or rock formation. Otherwise, the entire place was flatter than these author’s originality. They hurried past a worn sign which read ‘’Highway 35’’, with the last of them, Monkey, knocking the plate out of its place atop the pole. So focused were they in their drive that they had failed to notice a plane soaring overhead them, heading towards an unknown airstrip near them.

The drivers had been following during all of the way Vert and Kurt, considering they apparently knew the place where they had to go. The only thing that had been said was Vert’s confirmation that all they had to do was head in a straight line until they started seeing a literal cube, whatever the hell he meant.

After that, they all became silent, and that silence was starting to become ridiculous to the brown-haired male Teku, who huffed loudly in the radio and asked a question which had been lingering in his mind all the ride. ‘’So what’s the big deal with this Highway 35 thingy anyways?’’. 

‘’The  _ real  _ Highway 35 was a racetrack built in a completely different dimension by these weird ancient dudes with powers called Accelerons’’. Vert answered, with enthusiasm and nostalgia dripping in his tone.

‘’Sounds like something straight outta a scifi movie, which is why I think it’s bull’’. The dark brown haired Teku commented, unbelieving.

‘’I side with him on that, do you call that  _ real _ ?’’. Karma intervened, further adding to what Oct had said.

‘’It’s true, believe it or not’’. Kurt added, looking in the rearview mirror for a moment. ‘’Tezla recruited the best drivers from around the whole world for the World Race’’.

Vert grinned haughtily, looking at the mirror in his Deora. ‘’Yeaaaa, it was me and Kurt, Taro and-’’. He was about to say Markie, but he was interrupted rudely by the one who asked initially.

‘’So who won?’’. The impatient latin Teku interrupted the blonde by asking again.

Kurt replied in Vert’s place, earning an annoyed scowl from the surfer. ‘’It doesn’t matter who won’’. Kurt bluntly expressed, narrowing his eyes as he clenched the wheel tighter. ‘’All that Tezla wanted was the Wheel of Power at the end of the track for whatever the hell greedy reason…’’.

Feeling the eldest Wylde’s tension, the rest of the Teku halted their questioning, and for that, Kurt seemed thankful. They all lapsed into silence again, but it lasted some seconds until it was broken by the Maniacs’ yelling.

‘’Hey Taro!!! Monkey!!! Look who’s back’’. Martin called out to his teammates, looking in the rear-view mirror. 

Quite so, Spinebuster was gaining on the 7 car group incredibly fast. Its driver shifted gears and quickly passed by Monkey, kicking up dust in his wake, sending it into poor Monkey’s direction.

The mechanic wheezed and coughed, waving his gloved hand in front of his face. ‘’Hey, this isn’t a race!!!’’. He yelled to Wylde, annoyed.

‘’It’s  _ aaaaalways  _ a race’’. He replied, frowning in vexation as he switched gears. Spinebuster’s boiler creaked even louder as the engine whistled, the car gaining more speed in a burst.

He got even with Karma, and rear-ended Chicane, almost sending her spinning out. He then bumped into his older brother and Octavio, earning two distinctive shouts of protest, one saying ‘’Maniac!!!’’ and the other ‘’Loco de mierda’’ which basically means the same but calling him an ass as well.

Soon, they spotted a building in the distance, which started becoming clearer and bigger the closer they got to it. It was, like Vert had told them all, a cube, literally, with a big opening in one side big enough to allow a small plane to fit through. Seconds later, they all went through the opening of the building, alerting the ones present in it.

XXXXX

***MINUTES BEFORE THE TEKU AND MANIACS’ ARRIVAL*.**

Unlike the man of Saharan descent, they were all bustling and murmuring, going to and fro, either tweaking things in their cars or just talking to each other, to kill time, until the remaining drivers arrived.

‘’Ugh, I’m sick of waiting!!! When will these  _ boludos  _ arrive?’’. Anna complained, hitting the hood of her car with her palm.

‘’They can’t be too far, I’m sure of it, we just have to wait, Ann, come on’’. Her tanned teammate assured her.

This didn’t seem to satisfy the light-blonde. But, being unwilling to argue, she dropped the subject and just nodded, once again sighing in boredom.

Meanwhile, the Metal Teku were also fidgeting as well. Gale and Kya were both exchanging songs via infrared commands in their flip-phones. On the other hand, Terra was dealing with something under her car’s hood, and Talia was staring into the horizon.

‘’ _ Allí _ ’’. She pointed to the gap where the front door used to be. ‘’There, I see them’’. She explained, and the other five girls soon noticed the approaching vehicles, which shortly after came to a stop a few feet away from their own cars.

The first one to get out was Vert, who hastily hit the front door’s button and it soon lifted up, allowing him to step out. He walked around the once inhabited building, taking in the state it was in now. Two years exposed to the extreme desert conditions had taken its toll on the Cube, for its ceiling and walls were missing several chunk, the floor was filled with random clusters of sand here and there, and the place overall seemed like one that would make more than one feel uneasy if they were to be there alone at night. 

Suddenly, a man emerged from the shadows, revealing himself to be the man of Saharan descent mentioned above. He combed his dreadlock black hair back a bit as a warm smile made its way on his face upon seeing his former acquaintance. 

‘’Aaaay man, good to see you again!!!’’. The surfrat observed, bumping fists with the mysterious man.

‘’Vert… it sure has been a long time’’. The dreadlocked man in an orange racing jumpsuit with the number 22 on it asserted, still grinning.

‘’Is that Tezla?’’. Monkey interrupted them both, pointing at the man.

‘’My name is Kadeem, who are you?’’. The man now known as Kadeem countered, pointing at the mechanic likewise.

‘’Leave him Kadeem, he’s just a freaky, jumpy little Metal Maniac’’. Kurt dismissed the mechanic aggressively.

‘’That means he’s the  _ best _ , like me, Martu and Taro!’’. Wylde chimed in, nodding vigorously.

‘’The  _ real _ drivers are Teku!!!’’. His brother once again snapped, gritting his teeth and glaring at him.

‘’Wanna see what’s real?’’. Wylde challengingly asked, lifting up his fists.

Kadeem chuckled, drawing their attention to him and thankfully avoiding a fight. ‘’Yeeees, I see how it is’’. Taking into account the evident rivalry between both teams, Kadeem turned to his former rival in the World Race.

‘’How’s everything back home? Did you clear things up?’’. Vert queried him, curiously, but also wanting to make the tension fade a bit, if at all.

Kadeem’s smile dropped as his expression became weary all of a sudden. ‘’My people will have to wait, because this can not’’.

‘’So if this is  _ so, so  _ important… it must pay a lot, right?’’. Monkey suggested, hopeful.

Kadeem once again laughed heartily, prompting several of the drivers to look at him inquisitively

The girls cleared their throats, gaining the drivers attention. ‘’Hey, what are we, mince meat?’’. The Queen of Aces  _ de facto  _ leader protested, apparently offended.

The blonde Maniac and his best friend both widened their eyes and their mouths hung agape as they noticed the blonde and the tanned Aces. There was no way it could be them.

‘’Lucia? Anna?’’. Both exclaimed, equally incredulous.

The girls soon looked at them and became awestruck as well. ‘’MARTU??? OCTA???’’. 

‘’Jesus christ, it’s been ages since we last saw each other!!!’’. The latin Teku cheerfully said, shaking his head as he walked to her childhood friends. ‘’Where’s Cami though?’’.

‘’She’s back in Florida, fixing her car… anyways, we wouldn’t have expected to meet you again, and even less, in this place!!!’’. The light blonde commented, playfully punching the towering Teku in the shoulder.

‘’ _ Mieeerda _ … you’re both so tall!!! I remember you barely being five feet back in junior high!!!’’. Lucy commented, looking at the brown-haired Teku. 

‘’You remained a midget Lu, sadly’’. The scruffy blonde Maniac snickered, earning a glare from the barely-five-feet tall tanned girl.

‘’ _ Chupala _ ’’. She simply blurted out, flipping him the bird. ( _ Bite me _ ).

‘’Ahem… This is all a nice encounter an’ all yo’ but, shouldn’t we move along?’’. A female voice cut them off, coming from a nonchalant asian teen with orange shades. 

‘’Yes… While I must admit this is a lively meeting, I sadly have to agree with her. We have lost enough time as it is, so we must move on… Follow me’’. Kadeem instructed, before climbing into Krazy 8’s and speeding away. 

After a bit of driving, they reached a rocky maze where they found themselves maneuvering through with a bit of difficulty. In the lead was Kadeem, followed closely by a smirking Taro. 

‘’Tezla has built a new headquarters where no one can find him’’. Kadeem announced as he drove. ‘’Stay behind me and match my speed!’’. The Saharan instructed them, before taking a final curve and jumping through a cliff, followed by almost all of the Maniacs sans Monkey, who panicked and shouted it was a dead end, before slamming the brakes and spinning away from the line.

Krazy 8’s, and the other three Maniacs went  _ through  _ the cliff face, much to the mechanic’s dismay. ‘’ _ That’s impossible _ ’’. He whispered incredulously. He then watched as the Teku and the two all-female teams raced past him, jumped through the gap and also went through the cliff. 

As all the drivers (sans Monkey) landed inside, they were met by a narrow, descending corridor of sorts which led into a massive opening inside. There was a myriad of racetracks, all intersecting and interconnecting with each other, leading up to the roof, which itself was carved out of solid rock, and must have been…  _ at the very least _ , a hundred or two feet high. There was a huge hole in the center, where one of the tracks lead to, for an unknown purpose. There was also a control room in one end of the place, connected to an elevator and a several-stories-tall metal staircase.

As they all wandered near their cars, Vert stared at the titanic building before widening his eyes in surprise. ‘’Whoaaaaaa, check it out!!!’’. He exclaimed in amazement. He saw Oct beckoning him to come closer to the railing near the hole, and he did so, catching up with the others.

Out of nowhere, a golden beam projected itself from below, seconds later taking the shape of a man with shades. ‘’ **_Welcome, to the Acceledrome!!!_ ** ’’. The hologram-man bellowed with pride. ‘’ **_Gelorum and her Racing Drones have taken hold of the Wheel of Power_ ** ’’. He sadly informed them, taking a moment to look at the drivers. Once he noticed he had their attention, he proceeded. ‘’ **_However, before it was taken I discovered that it’s more than just a source of power…_ ** ’’. His eyebrows raised as he spoke with more conviction and determination. ‘’ **_It’s the key to something_ ** **much, much bigger** **_than Highway 35_ ** ’’. This seemed to shock them momentarily, and the doctor resumed his explanation. ‘’ **_Countless, possibly infinite new tracks in unique, new worlds that I’ve come to call… the Racing Realms_ ** ’’. 

He was interrupted by the sound of a not-so-distant engine approaching, and soon Rollin’ Thunder pulled up next to the other cars. The holo-man ( _ jesus how many bad puns in one chapter? _ ) and the other drivers regarded the last driver with curiosity as he asked if he’d missed anything.

Clearing his throat, the ominous man resumed. ‘’ **_Reaching the end of Highway 35 was only the first step mapped out for us by the Accelerons…_ ** ’’. He made a final pause before looking at every single driver and then resumed, raising his eyebrows in awe. ‘’ **_The journey of discovery begins…_ ** **here** ’’. And with that, he concluded his speech, and his head vanished in a golden flash of light, before being replaced by an idly spinning golden wheel with 3 giant rings connected to each other.

After the introduction, the drivers walked to the staircase and hastily clambered up until they reached a conference room. Once there, the Teku and the Maniacs sans Martin sat on opposite ends, while the Aces sat next to the Teku and the Metal Teku next to the tough guys. Kadeem, on his part, sat at one of the ends of the table. In the center of it, there was a smaller version of the wheel, also spinning, as well.

This prompted the sole female Teku to ask. ‘’So, which one is the real Wheel?’’. She gestured to the one in front of her with a small wave of her hand for emphasys.

‘’They are both holograms’’. Kadeem replied, glancing left and right to stare at all four teams.

‘’Exact three dimensional recreations’’. A familiar (to some) female voice added, as said female entered the room, followed by Gig.

‘’Lani!!! Ah man, it’s cool to see another Wave Ripper after so long!’’. The blonde surfer commented optimistically, as he looked at her, noticing she wasn’t wearing a racing jumpsuit but rather mechanic overalls.

‘’I’m not racing Vert’’. She responded, a bit sadly. ‘’I’ve been helping Tezla out in the Acceledrome’’. She then turned to stare at Taro and scowled at him. ‘’Although he didn’t tell me  _ who _ was coming’’. She spitefully commented, to which the Asian Maniac replied by staring at her, a tad bit confused.

Gig started explaining something, and some of the present there silently thanked the hovering machine for its smartassery for once. ‘’While studying the Wheel, Doctor Tezla recorded the unique patterns of its wavelengths and vibrations-’’. 

‘’Yea yea, fuck the lecture Gig, we are here to race, not for a dumbass science class’’. Wylde cut him off, waving at the robot in dismissal and putting his head as he propped his feet on the table and leaned back in the chair. 

Undeterred, the robot continued. ‘’The holographic image resonates with the same emanations of the  _ actual _ Wheel of Power’’. 

Monkey turned his head to the left, noticing Gig hovering over his shoulder, and then asked aloud. ‘’Is he speaking english?, he’s speaking english, right?’’, jerking his thumb in Gig’s direction. He received several shrugs in response.

Gig then hovered over to the smaller wheel and resumed. ‘’In a very real and literal sense, the image  _ IS _ the Wheel’’. 

‘’And that means?...’’. Karma questioned, looking at Lani who had walked next to her.

‘’Doctor Tezla believes the Wheel of Power has been opening the Racing Realms’’. The female mechanic explained.

‘’And that Gelorum’s Racing Drones have been entering in them’’. The machine completed, turning to look at the team members.

‘’And that worries this Doctor oooooh so much becaaaaaause?’’. The light blonde Ace, Annabelle, chimed in, unamused. 

‘’On a more serious approach, though, we must reach the end of the next Racing Realm before the Drones do so’’. The Saharan man asserted, clenching his fist.

‘’Why should we?’’. Kurt objected, annoyed, as Taro stood up and joined Martin at the edge of the room, looking at the Wheel. ‘’Last time it was getting the freakin’ Wheel for Tezla… What could the doctor possibly want now?’’. 

Some of the female drivers took note of the words of the eldest Wylde, who seemed to be distrustful and possibly, loathing of Tezla. 

‘’Because the Drones have already accessed several Realms and Doctor Tezla believes that with each new realm they complete, they become more powerful’’. Gig explained flatly.

Kadeem nodded. ‘’Whatever’s at the end of the realms… must be even more powerful’’. 

Monkey chuckled, rising from his seat. ‘’Soooo… if it’s that powerful, then it must be worth a lot of money, right?’’. He only got a laugh as a response, from the dreadlocked man. The jumpy Maniac then slowly slid into his seat. ‘’ _ Why is he laughing? _ ’’. He mumbled under his breath, pointing to Kadeem.

‘’Now more than ever, the best drivers are needed’’. Gig stated, gathering the drivers attention and interest. 

Almost as if on cue, deafening alarms started to blare as both Wheels’ rings started spinning fastly. 

‘’ _ Se mueve _ ’’. Martin noted, turning his head around and looking at his fellow drivers.

‘’It’s moving’’. Taro clarified, although with no need as everyone present noticed the Wheels’ erratic movements.

‘’A new realm is about to open’’. Lani announced matter-of-factly.

‘’Alright, come on, let’s  **_GO!_ ** ’’. Wylde cheered, jumping from his seat and turning to the exit, hightailing it out of there.

Meanwhile, Vert looked at all of the drivers and gestured for them to wait. ‘’Hold up…’’. He narrowed his eyes as he spoke. ‘’We need Nitrox’’. 

All four team members sprinted out of the room, each heading to their own cars to tend to them. Several hoses were connected to already installed tanks, while others set up heavy weighted canisters, adjusted them and plugged hoses into them, with a green liquid flowing through them.

Vert nodded and Kadeem flipped a switch and Deora II’s nitrox canisters started to fill. Meanwhile, Kurt and Oct did the same on the later’s Skyline, with him thanking the eldest Wylde with a curt nod ( _ another pun jesus christ _ ), to which the goggled man replied with a nod of his own, before sauntering off to Slingshot. Karma and Lani both struggled with the weight of a canister, and they set it underneath the crane-lifted Chicane. Then, the mechanic handed a wrench to the slim brunette, who mouthed a thank you before adjusting the booster in place.

Kurt nodded to Oct, and the latino flipped a switch. Satisfied, the elder Wylde looked as the HUD of his dashboard showed the Nitrox meter reaching full capacity. ‘’Let’s get those Drones’’. He mumbled to no one in particular.

Meanwhile, the 3 blinking warning red lights had one change to yellow as the alarms became higher in pitch. 

The Metal Teku all struggled with the Nitrox systems, considering their cars didn’t have canisters installed so they had to put them in place. The same issue was had by the Aces, but in the end, both teams cooperated and they finished in time as the remaining two red lights gave way to yellow, and the Wheel stopped spinning as the three rings set into different positions and a shining light blue ball with blinking white particles manifested in the center of it.

‘’The Racing Realm…  **IS OPEN!!!!** ’’. Gig yelled, turning around to face the drivers, considering he was staring at the now all-green 3 lights on the wall.

They didn’t need to be told twice.

Following Kadeem’s lead, the cars ran towards the track in the following order; Spinebuster, Deora II and Taro’s car, followed closely by Chicane, Slingshot, Ocean Thunder, Rollin’ Thunder, Impaler, and then the Metal Teku and the Aces.

They received a boost up to 160 miles an hour by some kind of unknown propeller to aid them as they raced for the Wheel. The inertia pulled everyone back, pinning them to their seat and eliciting different reactions, either a cry of surprise or a grunt of effort.

‘’You must be going three hundred miles an hour when you reach the Wheel!’’. Kadeem announced on the radio, correcting his steering wheel a bit.

‘’I wish somebody would tell us how much we’re getting paid’’. Monkey insisted, in a low voice, as his car clocked 200 MPH.

They all received another boost as they inched even closer to the portal now, being pushed even further down their seats. Hadn’t it been for the seatbelts, more than one would have been sent off balance from their seating position.

As one by one they all vanished with a  _ swish! _ motion, Lani shook her head in the control room, looking down at a clock which was counting down the time, starting from an hour and descending into minutes and seconds.

‘’I have a bad feeling about this’’. She ruefully lamented, sighing.

‘’Computers don’t have feelings’’. Gig expressed, shrugging his inexistent shoulders.

Lani snorted, ignoring Gig’s sarcasm. ‘’We should’ve told them…  _ everything _ ’’. The brunette added, staring up at the portal in hopelessness. Maybe this time, they  _ all  _ would come out. 

What could lie beyond the portal? Who exactly ARE the Racing Drones and what do they want? These questions and more will be answered in chapter 3 of Acceleracers: Reborn!

XXXXX

**A/N:** Aight guys, Oct here, just wanna say this. Thanks for the support, the views and even tho y’all don’t review, we still appreciate it… It’d be dope if you left feedback though ngl. Other than that, I ain’t got much more to say except thank you again, and see you guys n gals in the next chapter.


	3. The Storm Realm

**Acceleracers: Reborn**

An Acceleracers fanfiction written by octavio675, sailorchickenwing and 733S.

**A/N:** Alrighty folks, here we are again with another brand new chapter of this, uh, thingy! Hope you all are ready for the time of your lives as you get to experience the storm realm once again! We don’t have much to say ‘bout it except that… we hope you enjoy reading it as much as we did writing it!

_   
_ ** DISCLAIMER: ** **WE DON’T OWN NOTHING EXCEPT FOR MY OCS. Credits for the other OCs (Metal Teku) go to Shadowofthedragons/Shads42, a good friend of mine. Tyvm for letting me use them back then, and now as well. Acceleracers and Highway 35 are property of Mattel, Mainframe Entertainment/Rainmaker Studios and etc, etc. We are IN NO WAY, SHAPE OR FORM profitting from this.**

**Part one: Ignition**

**Chapter Three: the Storm Realm**

The portal opened, spitting out several cars. The first one to be tossed was Kadeem, followed by some of the Teku and Maniacs. Most of the cars had their windows open, or in the case of Spinebuster, it did not have any at all. Thus, the wind rushed inside of them as they were on freefall, drowning most of their panicked yelps and yells. Most, but not all.

‘’AAAAAAAAAH, THERE’S NO TRAAAAAACK!!!!’’. Wylde screamed, a bit higher pitched than he intended to. 

Meanwhile, Vert, having an ample front windscreen, widened his eyes as he gripped the steering wheel tighter, bracing for the impact. Thankfully, there  _ was  _ a track, but the way it was set, seemed weird, out of place… almost  _ alien _ … Vert grunted as his car made contact with the track, being brought back to reality bluntly. He struggled with the wheel before managing to get his car under control. Immediately after, he started driving in the dark purple track, which had sets of chevrons of a lighter-shade-of-purple pointing the way, at regular intervals. Taro followed suit, being a few feet behind, on the surfer’s right.

Soon after, Slingshot, Chicane, Impaler and Ocean Thunder landed on the track, and after some seconds of laborious adjusting to the route, they resumed driving normally. 

Monkey was the last of the Maniacs to come out, his eyes closed tightly and his hands quivering on the steering wheel. ‘’ _ There has to be a track, there has to be a track… god please let there be a _ -’’. He pleaded as his front bumper neared the ground at terminal speed. He was jolted away from his pleading as his car drifted uncontrollably, forcing him to turn to and fro until he spun out a couple of times, lost some speed, and regained control of his car.

The remaining cars landed uneventfully, and their all-female drivers sighed thankfully once they noticed the trail straightened up. They all sped away from the beginning, chasing after the rest of the drivers. 

The girls crept closer to the Teku and the Maniacs, until they all formed a rather untidy and disorganized convoy of sorts, but still a convoy with all grouped together nonetheless. All of them remained in silence on the radio, taking in the scenery. The sky was a blackish purple that stretched as far as the eye could see, and were it not for the track being right below them, they would have confused it with part of the sky. Barring that, there didn’t seem to be anything else in this vast expansion of nothingness, except for the occasional blinding-white lightning bolt which popped out of the clouds here and there.

That changed after an uneventful while of driving, when they started seeing tall metal pillars to the sides of the track at random intervals. This caught some of the racers’ attention, who quietly pondered on their reason of being as they silently traversed through the realm. 

The silence was broken by Kadeem speaking on the radio, asking something which also crept on the drivers’ minds. ‘’Does anybody know what’s holding this track?’’. 

Unamusedly, Taro shrugged, clueless. ‘’Ask the Accelerons’’. He replied snidely.

XXXXX

***MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE ACCELEDROME***

Inside the control room, Lani sat in front of a series of screens, with a big one directly in front of her, and the rest of them placed to her left and right, tracing each car’s progress and status. The one in front of her fizzled until she typed something in the keyboard adjacent to it, coincidentally as Gig hovered over next to her. 

The screen suddenly flickered to life, transmitting in high quality and at a steady frame rate.

‘’The camera in Kadeem’s car is transmitting’’. The hovering machine reported, despite it being blatantly obvious.

‘’Good, then that means we should have radio contact too’’. The female mechanic suggested, taping a button in her earpiece and remaining silent for some moments before trying to speak.

XXXXX

***BACK IN THE REALM***

The cars took a slowly winding curve to the right, and then a sharp left one, and they all saw as the track became more and more difficult, twisting in an almost serpentine way, high in the air, only for it to start, literally, tilting gradually until it was almost 90 degrees to the right, running around a vortex of concentrated, pure lightning which glowed a fascinating, blinding white.

Vert allowed himself to glance momentarily at the whirling cluster of lightning, awestruck. ‘’WHOAAAAA, this is  _ waaaay _ cooler than Highway 35!!!’’. He cheered aloud.

As the younger blonde boisterously celebrated, Kurt struggled to stay in the middle of the track, before allowing himself to cast a sideways glance to the vortex of lightning to his left. He widened his eyes in shock, before fully focusing his attention on the track once more. 

Karma mentally agreed with Vert as she drove just a bit behind Kurt. It truly was a sight to behold, fascinating to the eyes, but as much as it was beckoning those who passed near it to contemplate it, it also was a great danger for the unwary. Thus, she scolded herself, grunting as the track a few yards ahead started tilting back to normal. 

Octavio, in complete silence, chased after the sole female Teku with a neutral, firm expression on his face. Behind her, two of her former childhood friends followed suit.

Annabelle, eyes wide as saucers, looked to her left as she passed by and soon left the vortex of swirling electricity behind. ‘’ _ BOLUDAAAAAAS  _ did you see that? That was sooooo cool!!’’. She cried out in utter excitement. 

Lucy shook her head inside of Quick n’ Sik, as she switched gears and zoomed past her befuddled teammate. ‘’You think  _ that’s  _ cool? Check  _ THAT  _ ahead of us out!!!’’. She commented.

‘’Yo’, what am I missing that you see and I… don’t’’. Kya chimed in, curious, before her jaw hung slightly agape as her eyes trailed the spiraling track ahead. It went up in a zigzagging path before it suddenly formed a massive loop that finished with a straight road all the way down.

The three Metal Teku were the last ones, bringing up the rear. Their co-leader frowned and stomped on the gas pedal, determined to catch up. ‘’ _ Chicas _ , this race isn’t over yet!!!’’ (Girls). She yelled to her teammates on the radio. ‘’Let’s go get even with them!’’. Hearing two affirmative, neutral responses but with cool optimism and neutrality (from Gale and Terra respectively), the latina nodded to herself as she switched gears, and soon enough she and her teammates were ever closer to the others.

As they all drove into the loop, their cars ever so slightly faltered in their step, but that prompted them all to floor it even harder, and soon they were defying gravity as they ran across the twisted segment of the track, until they reached the end of the loop. Now, having gravity on their side again, they all wore different reactions to the push they received as their speed greatly increased.

Vert once again gleefully yelped. ‘’Check out this  _ verticaaaaaaaaaaal _ !!!!’’. He yelled as his Deora II ran down the track. 

‘’Che Vert!!! Did you realize? We are in a  _ vert _ ical right now!!!! Hahaaaaa!!!! Que boludo… he didn’t get it’’. The latin Teku shook his head at his lame joke, while some chuckles and snorts were heard in the radio. 

Kurt was one of the few to react to the joke, before alerting Karma. ‘’Keep accelerating Karma!!! The aerodynamics of the car will keep you on the track!’’. 

The brunette nodded as her icy blue eyes stared down at the distant ground. ‘’Yeah… got it’’.

Anna yelled, equally amused as Vert. ‘’ _ Vaaaaaaaaamos todavía _ !!!! I love this job’’. (Let’s gooooo!!!). 

Lucy cringed at her cheering, but soon enough joined in, letting out a joyful squeal. 

‘’ _ Sugoi _ …’’. Kya and Gale both mumbled in unison as their eyes gleamed under their car’s cool neon interior lighting.

‘’ _ Genial _ ’’. Talia asserted, nodding in satisfaction as she raced with her teammates. 

The only one not rejoicing or keeping his cool was Monkey, who panicked and slammed the brakes. ‘’Oh my goodness!’’. He blurted out as his car lifted off the track and spun several times. ‘’Whatever this dude’s paying us, is not enough!!!’’. He complained, as if someone was listening to him.

XXXXX

***BRIEF LOOKOUT OF THE ACCELEDROME’S CONTROL ROOM*.**

Indeed, back at the Acceledrome, Gig’s voice replied to the whimpering Maniac. ‘’ _ Who said anything about being paid? _ ’’. Much to Lani’s chagrin and Tezla’s surprise. The female mechanic winced, hissing as her ear strained with Monkey’s ‘’Noooooooo!!!!!’’ scream. She then turned around and raised an eyebrow at Gig, who was floating up and down, almost as if imitating a…  _ laugh _ ?!

‘’Machines  _ might _ have feelings’’. The robot commented, receiving two equally confused stares from his owner and from the female mechanic. ‘’What?, isn’t that a possibility? Bah… humans’’. He shrugged his nonexistent shoulders and floated away, seemingly shunned. 

Tezla and Lani both shrugged themselves before shifting their attention back to the drivers. 

XXXXX

All of the drivers reached the end of the vertical, and the track once again morphed into a relatively normal, smooth pathway for them to drive on. Kadeem still on the lead, all of the four teams, barring the lagging Maniac, followed him.

Monkey came out of the vertical screaming, before his car landed on the track with a thud. He checked himself out and felt no injuries, nothing broken, both on himself and his car. He sighed in relief and then smirked, his mood changing into a positive one. ‘’This track ain’t so tough after a-’’. But he was cut short as a lightning bolt hit the track to his immediate left, forcing him to swerve to the right with a cry of alarm, before doing the same but to the left, as another bolt fell down on the track. He cowered once more in his seat and accelerated, trying to both gain some ground from the electrical invaders and also to catch up with the bulk of the squad.

Up ahead, and once they all grouped together, one by one the drivers noticed that the path didn’t get into a straight, apparently easy line without a purpose. Lining up on both flanks of the tracks, placed at even intervals were different pillars all crackling with electricity, ready to strike them at a moments notice. Soon enough, all hell broke loose as the bolts started randomly striking the track, and all the drivers weaved to the left and right, doing their best to avoid being hit.

They were all succeeding so far, until... fatefully and for his bad luck, Kurt’s car was hit by one. His entire car shook as the indicators in the dashboard flickered madly from one end to the other. The eldest Wylde winced as his front windscreen cracked and then, it shattered in countless smaller shards. He instinctively smashed the brakes and threw his head to the side, avoiding the shards at the last moment. His car abruptly skidded to a halt, and soon enough he attempted to turn on the engine again. It sputtered and failed several times. He saw Monkey and Karma pass him by, and some seconds after, the two all female teams. Resigned, he slammed his fist in the steering wheel and cursed. ‘’Shit!!!’’.

Meanwhile, floating high up in the sky and unbeknownst to the drivers, a lone, slick black metal circular machine with a dark grey screen was watching their every move intently, transmitting it to someone far beyond the Realm.

XXXXX

***???, SOMEWHERE ELSE, LOCATION UNKNOWN***

A flat screen monitor filled with static for half of a second before showing a clear image of the track of the Storm Realm, casting a dim glow on the face of its lone spectator. A woman with white, shoulder length hair, and a glowing neon green eye. The screen immediately changed under her command and then her face was no longer illuminated, the only thing visible from it being its single orb.

The image changed to one showing the inside of a pitch black car, commandeered by a same-colored, towering mechanical being with six small lines, all arranged as two triangles pointing down, one above the other, which served as its optics. It then regarded the camera and spoke in a neutral tone, awaiting orders. ‘’ _ Yes, Gelorum? _ ’’.

The female now known as Gelorum stared at its subordinate with malice and disgust. ‘’There are humans in the Realms’’, she replied spitefully, inching ever so close to the screen. ‘’ _ Destroy them _ ’’. She commanded.

‘’ _ Understood _ ’’. The machine stated, before cutting communications. 

Satisfied, her expression changed into a murderous, sadistic smile as she watched the scene display in front of her.

XXXXX

***BACK IN THE REALM***

As the screen on the dashboard slid back into its resting place, the Drone Lieutenant shifted its attention to the track once more and engaged into battle mode, a sort of dark green visor covering its eyes. In a swift motion, the platoon of Drones all got into a single file line, following their leader in a perfect, neat arrangement.

However, the Drone Lieutenant did the opposite. It twisted the steering mechanism (considering it was far differently shaped from a wheel) to the right and came to a sudden, almost complete halt, before turning around and performing a 180 degree-spin, and then it sped away from its subordinates, gaining a sudden burst in speed which made the bulky vehicle do a wheelie for several yards before the front of the car landed with a dull thud.

As the Drone leader drove away, it ventured further and further into an ever-thickening fog. Undeterred, it reached for something on the roof, and from a compartment filled with four different of them, it extracted a card-shaped object, but thick as a finger. It had a dark grey coloration with four dots arranged in a square pattern. The machine inserted it into a slot-like reader, and mere moments later, the chip glowed a blinding gray, and soon so did the car. 

Instants later, the surrounding landscape became more and more clear as its fog dissipated easily. The Drone remained unamused as it drove, being hellbent focused on both driving and eliminating the opposing faction.

Indeed, a mile or two ahead of the Drone, and totally unaware of it incoming, Wylde and Kadeem dashed through the fog. The Saharan-descent man had a firm expression on his face as he led the way, alongside the cocky Maniac, who shouted his own name out, praising himself in his windowless car. Kadeem raised an eyebrow and regarded Wylde with a concerned and curious look, before turning back to the track.

Back with the Drone, we see as it pulls a lever on its right, moving it all the way forward, until it locks in place. Immediately after, its car, still glowing, begins to morph, being suddenly engulfed by some sort of armor, with a spoiler on the back, wheel guards and a shovel-looking thing on the front, which made it look like it was literally a tank on wheels. It readied to attack, its thumb resting on the button trigger on the wheel, and then it fired, sending the plow speeding ahead of it.

Kadeem and Wylde had engaged into an irrelevant banter, before the Saharan man turned to face the track and gasped in surprise, before shouting in alert and swerving away to the left. ‘’ **LOOK OUT!!!** ’’. He yelled as he narrowly avoided most of the plow, while the younger Wylde sibling was hit dead on by it.

Krazy 8’s and Spinebuster both were literally scooped off the ground, being sent high in the air before tumbling several times in the track and coming to a halt. Spinebuster landed near the edge of the track, and Mark watched as so did Krazy 8’s, but it did with a bit of momentum, and thus it slided away, spinning uncontrollably as the Racing Drone raced past both of them. 

Meanwhile, the Drone, unrelenting and still cruising at terminal speed, faced another opponent, and it almost slammed it head on, before its driver turned to the right, narrowly avoiding the collision.

The Plymouth Roadrunner screeched to a stop, hitting a lightning pillar rather harshly. Its driver hit his nape on the headrest, and was momentarily stunned. Taro shook his head and growled, staring daggers at the retreating Drone’s form. 

On the distance, the brute inside the car pulled the switch back to its original place, and soon the car reverted back into its crude, barely-square looking shape, and the glowing chip slid up from the slot, and thus visibility was rendered almost null once again. The hulking being grabbed the powerful object and stored it once again above its head on a compartment on the roof, before grabbing the wheel once again with both hands.

As the Teku and one of the two remaining Maniacs drove in complete silence, they all effortlessly spotted the rapidly approaching, enemy vehicle, and were well aware of the difference in that car’s powers. Thus, they all either avoided crashing into it, or just hopped over it with the jump jets. 

Meanwhile, the girls behind them all did the same, uttering their confused reactions to one another as they caught up with the rest of the drivers. 

Kadeem, having regained control, quickly shifted gears and floored it, getting on the lead again. He frowned as he stared ahead, before announcing to everyone in the radio. ‘’The Racing Drones are here’’. He briefly stated.

Monkey, lagging behind, smirked, unaware of the danger coming at him. ‘’Where? I don’t see any Racing-’’. He was cut off as a black blur zoomed to his left, rendering him speechless. He looked at its retreating form and sunk in his seat, meekly finishing his phrase. ‘’ _ Drones… _ ’’. 

Further ahead Kadeem had separated from the group, putting his foot deeper into the gas as he neared a line of several drones. He frowned, his eyes dead centered on them, occasionally snatching a glance to the rows upon rows of still-very-much active lightning rods. They all took a right curve and then a huge leap in the track, sailing in the air for several seconds. Kadeem went over one of them, which unfortunately was sent plummeting down below, only to be impacted by a lightning bolt. It blew up in an spectacular fashion, but the human driver paid it no mind as he landed and now became the penultimate in the convoy.

‘’Maybe I’ll draft with you for a while!’’. He defiantly yelled as he raced along. 

Elsewhere, the drone in-command-while-inside-the-Realm did another 180 spin and went in reverse until he got into a giant vehicle transformer of sorts, it was an orange and chrome colored… dragster looking thing of sorts, which vibrated and shook in place as the rear wheels turned at an ever increasing speed, before launching forward at an impossibly fast speed. 

The Drone drove through the straight track several miles before it caught up in the rear of the humans, and then it hopped off the booster, and back on the track. Its immediate objective was an SUV red-colored vehicle, which it promptly caught up with and readied to fire at. Both its prey and the black pursuer zoomed past a stranded Wylde, who was still dealing with the car’s ignition, but both the escapee and the chaser didn’t seem to notice it. 

Monkey gasped, noticing a light green glowing thing in his rearview mirror, and soon sunk his right foot down the gas, gaining a tad bit of distance on the chasing ball. However, seconds later it soon caught up with him and he uttered a yelp of shock as his car blew up entirely. He closed his eyes as he… stopped moving and slided on the track for a moment?

Flummoxed, the lanky Maniac probed himself all over his torso with a hand, while still clutching the steering wheel with the other, which he promptly dropped uselessly on the ground, next to the other parts which hadn’t fall off the edge. To his relief, he wasn’t wounded, and he soon sighed, alleviated as the Drone car went past him, completely ignoring his seat in the middle of the road.

But, just as he was about to stand up, he heard a distinctive whirring engine which could only mean something. Desperate, Monkey frantically attempted to stand up, but to no avail as he was still held down by his seatbelt, and then he resigned himself to hop away, literally, as he muttered under his breath something about a Pork Chop being there.

Seconds later, the whirring engine passed next to him, and his seat got stuck into the black car. Monkey flinched as his seat dragged down the vehicle, slowing it down considerably. He turned to the right as he faced a bewildered, sunglasses-wearing fellow. ‘’

Having realized what was slowing him down, Wylde shouted. ‘’Climb in!!! Your seat’s causin’ a helluva drag!!! I’m gonna scrape it off!’’. He warned, before turning from the wheel momentarily and focusing on Monkey.

The mechanic squeaked in protest, his instincts kicking in. ‘’ _ What??? _ , wait!!!’’. He replied, fiddling with his seatbelt for a moment, before managing to finally break free of it, and then with a rough pull on his back to aid him, he climbed inside, behind the only seat Spinebuster had.

Once he set himself up as comfortably as the reduced space allowed him to, the car-less Maniac popped his head over Wylde’s right, and flashed him a friendly smile. ‘’Hey, how you doin’ Wylde?’’. 

XXXXX

***MEANWHILE, ON ANOTHER PART OF THE TRACK***

The six girls marched in the track at a steady, rhythmic pace, but separated by a good distance from each other. Talia and Annabelle both drove in the lead, the former being a slight bit ahead. Behind them were Terra and Lucy, trailing behind. And on the end, with not a care in the world, were both asian teens.

Soon they came across the enemy that the other drivers had already found, and everyone reacted differently as one of the Drones seemed to deploy something from its back fender. Countless small balls with neon green lines on them were launched from its back, before rolling to a stop and sinking in the ground and deploying two small rods, one on each side.

‘’ **MIERDA!!! SON OF A- SHIT SHIT SHIT!!! AVOID AVOID AVOID!!!** ’’. Anna yelled on the radio, to her teammates and the others, as she started steering left and right in between the objects. 

Terra followed suit, slowing down her speed to allow her to better navigate through the miniature maze. Whether they were landmines, or simple tire-puncters, she didn’t know, but neither did she want to take the risk. 

The stern Metal Teku did the same as her leader, prioritizing her life over the advantage, for the time being. She paled slightly, however, when she saw that the two behind her kept driving at their usual pace, followed tightly by the dark-skinned Ace. ‘’ _ Kuzo _ …’’. She cursed, before raising her voice to warn them. ‘’ **GALE, GIRLS, YOU BETTER STOP BEFORE-** ’’. But she was cut off bluntly when two explosions blew up as two of the three cars behind her accidentally activated the spikes in the road.

The shockwave sent Quick n’ Sik flying, as well as Bass Vortex and M-ST Suzuka. The first one tumbled over several times before landing upright, with its spoiler completely torn off and its red and black paint job scrapped badly. Besides that, though, the car seemed drivable enough. 

The same couldn’t be said for the other two ones, though. The modified Chevy Avalanche landed on its side, missing most of the speaker system, the front windows cracked, some even completely missing, and the suspension busted. Finally, next to it M-ST Suzuka lay upside down, missing its spoiler, with the glasses broken and the paint scraped on the roof, and to top it all, its driver door, the right one, had a huge dent on it.

As soon as the smoke cleared and the enemies raced away, the remaining, unharmed human cars all approached the crash site with due haste.

Talia was the first to get off her car, and she soon made a run for Kya’s car, which seemed to be the one in worst condition, while Anna soon joined her, and Terra scurried off in the direction of Lucy’s car. 

The stern look on Terra’s face was replaced by a neutral one which, while it didn’t visibly express it, it still showed her concern. And concerned as she was, she helped the tanned driver out of her red painted car, looking her in the eye. 

Lucy flashed a tired, yet reassuring smile. ‘’I-I’m fine, just some scrapes and cuts, nothing major. I can walk on my own, we should prolly check on Kya though… if her car got messed up like that-’’. The tanned female winced, rubbing her left shoulder, before resuming. ‘’I can’t even imagine how did  _ she  _ end up’’.

Terra uneasily nodded, and both stormed to the overturned vehicle, joining the other three females in earnest. 

As they neared the overturned vehicle, the others had already congregated around it, attempting to pry off the driver’s door with broken pieces of metal that had fallen. Talia, Gale and Anna were using two pieces of the M-ST Suzuka’s spoiler, putting them between the door’s wedge and the roof. Soon after they were joined by Terra and the limping Lucy.

They all struggled and heaved, trying with all of their might to rip the door off. They finally succeeded after so much effort, and they all cheered weakly in relief, but their celebration was soon cut short when they saw the state Kya was in. Her blackish brown sweater had dark stains, and her normally slightly-white skin was a ghostly shade of white, with a huge gash on her forehead, oozing with blood. Her once neat white headphones were cracked and barely hanging on to her neck, also stained a bit with the crimson liquid.

‘’ _ Kami _ …’’. Terra muttered. ‘’ _ God…  _ She looks… poor soul’’. Her neutral expression faltered for a moment as she looked at her rival teams’ faces.

Lucy winced as she looked at her unconscious, pained teammate, while Annabelle was frowning and clenching her fists before shaking out of her stupor. Immediately after, she set to work in unfastening her teammates seatbelt. She stopped mid-action to look over her shoulder and furiously jerked her head in Kya’s direction, seeking help. 

Talia mumbled something apologetically and soon joined her, and so did Gale, who held open what little remained of the door as the two latinas pulled out the injured female driver, who was barely hanging on to consciousness right now.

‘’ _ G-girls… w-what happened?... All I saw was… a boom… and then everything shook and all went dark _ ’’. She meekly managed to say, before being gently set inside Golden Arrow.

‘’Shhhhh, save your strength  _ boluda _ , we’ll get you out of here in one piece, as well as your car… or what remains of it’’. Anna assured her teammate, before closing the passenger’s door and walking over to the still overturned M-ST Suzuka. 

‘’Does anybody know how we can get this thing back on its wheels?’’. Annabelle wondered, looking at her injured-but-not-so-grievously teammate and their rivals. 

‘’We should be able to if we do it this way’’. Talia began, walking towards the left side of the car. ‘’Terra, get on the back of the car and grab it by the wheel’s edge. Anna, you grab it from the front. Gale, Lucy, you two help me grab it from the middle’’. She finished as they all got in their assigned positions. Once they were all ready, she resumed. ‘’As soon as I say go, we all push forward, ready?’’. She received four affirmative nods and then she herself nodded. ‘’Alright,  _ one… two!!!...  _ **_THREE, GO, GO, GO!!! PUSH!!!_ ** ’’.

At first, the car didn’t budge too much, barely moving some inches forward, the metal from the roof screeching against the ground as it did so. But after a little while of heaving and pushing with all of their might, they finally managed to make the car flip a considerable amount, almost halfway. Seeing this progress, they kept on pushing with renewed strength, and in a joint effort, both teams managed to make the car land with a mighty thud on its four wheels.

Lucy fell back, landing on her rear, hissing as she rubbed her injured shoulder, while Terra and Annabelle stumbled backwards, and Talia and Gale held each other from the shoulder, to prevent themselves from falling. 

They cheered, this time with a bit more of enthusiasm, high fiving each other and patting their backs.

‘’Yo… hate to break it to y’all but… we still gotta do the same with my car’’. Gale pointed out, jerking her thumb in her Chevy’s direction.

Groans and sighs were heard as the girls realized of this pending situation, before they started thinking of a solution for it. 

‘’We can just push it…  _ with cars this time _ ’’. Anna proposed, snapping her fingers and with a confident voice.

‘’She’s right, just two of us need to shove it forward until it’s on its wheels again…’’. Lucy deduced, receiving approving nods from everyone present there.

‘’Let’s do it’’. Terra urged them all, before reaching for Welded. 

‘’I’ll help her. Talia, you go with Lucy and tow Kya’s car with mine’’. The de facto leader of the Aces said, and they all stormed off in different directions. 

Engines rumbled as both Metal Teku succesfully flipped over their teammates car after a bit of pushing it forward, while the remaining latinas towed the busted car to Golden Arrow. This all didn’t take too much, and once they were all done, they all climbed into their respective vehicles and radioed each other.

‘’ _ Y’all ready? _ ’’. Annabelle questioned, before sparing a look at her unconscious teammate. The light blonde frowned and revved the engine in place, eager to get the hell out of dodge.

‘’ _ Sí, as ready as I’ll ever be _ ’’. Talia’s reply came in from Techtyte.

‘’ _ Hai, I’m ready yo _ ’’. Gale chimed in coolly, with some music playing in the background, before it cut off. ‘’ _ Aw man, there go the subs! _ ’’. She whined sadly.

‘’ _ Ready _ ’’. The stern voice of Terra was unmistakable and clear.

‘’ _ Lista pelotuda, mové el culo and let’s get outta here _ ’’. (Ready fool, move yo’ ass!) Lucy yelled from Quick n’ Sik.

‘’Alrighty then, let’s roll, Aces’’. The light blonde mumbled, her eyes fixated on the road, glaring ahead as she switched gears and led the way, slowly increasing her speed as the rest of the girls trailed behind her.

XXXXX

***ELSEWHERE, ON ANOTHER SET OF THE TRACK***

Vert was right behind the Drone’s leader-in-the-Realm, almost even with it. As he put up next to it, man and machine stared at each other momentarily, before the hulking brute rammed Vert’s left side, almost sending the former Wave Ripper off the track.

Recovering quickly, the blonde frowned, gritting his teeth as he sped back, hellbent on getting revenge. ‘’No way!!!’’. He muttered, fists clenched around the steering wheel tightly.

The Drone lieutenant, wary of his intentions, slowed down, letting Vert miss it by a considerable bit, and then once again got next to him. The human was to the left of the machine now, and they got in a staring contest that was too short lived as Vert once again attempted to run the Drone off the track.

Prepared, the Drone reached for yet another magical smartphone-sized thing to help it in this situation. This one had an aqua green coloration with a P shaped symbol in the center and a dot below it. 

As the Drone inserted the object in the slot, its car glowed in the same coloration as the chip, and it disappeared out of existence at the same time as the surfer attempted to ram it.

Vert only met air as his car went straight through the space that the Drone was occupying  _ half a second  _ ago. And immediately after, he fell off the track, plummeting down into the abyss below. 

The blonde yelped in surprise, reacting quickly and pushing a button in the dashboard. His car stopped descending abruptly, and it steadily hovered closer to the ground, blue jets of fire emerging from under it as it neared another track. It landed with a solid thud, and Vert let out an ‘’oof!’’ as he shook from the light impact, before looking up at the track above, as an aqua green glow shone and the Drone came back into existence. The enraged teen watched as its enemy drove away, before punching the wheel and resuming his march.

Back with the Drone, the Lieutenant drone caught up to Kadeem, who had just expertly avoided one of the henchmen’s energy balls, which fell on an unfortunate fellow drone who went flying down into the void. It was caught by a lightning bolt, blowing up in an spectacular fashion like several others had before.

Once the LD got closer to the last of its squad, it emitted an order for it to engage the grappling hook, which shot and didn’t go as far as a couple of feet before embedding itself into Kadeem’s rear fender.

The saharan man turned his head around in alert, seeing as how something had hit his car’s back end, and soon noticed two Drones being even behind him, and the bigger of them… knocked its own off the track??? 

His musings were cut short as he himself was pulled down into the expanse of nothingness below, forcing him to deploy the white parachute from the back of his car. This, however, did nothing but slow his fall and send the other lower ranking drone plummeting below, soon falling victim to the lightning.

As Vert drove on the track below, he soon spotted something off the corner of his eyes and slammed the brakes as it crossed his mind that it was Kadeem…  _ falling off into the void _ . He frowned in concentration and soon spun to the left, stopping completely. ‘’Don’t worry, I’ve got you Kadeem!!!’’. He assuredly told his friend, before touching the grappling hook button. 

From the front of the Deora II a hook came out, spinning out and aiming towards Krazy 8’s. It sailed in the air for several moments and time seemed to slow down as the metallic object bounced off the former World Race car’s spoiler…  _ missing it completely _ .

Horrified, Vert’s confident expression soon changed into one of utter disbelief as his mouth hung agape. ‘’No…’’. He simply mumbled, watching as Kadeem’s parachute was blown by the same Drone from before, and Krazy 8’s fall became faster and faster until it was nowhere to be seen below.

XXXXX

***BACK AT THE DROME***

This couldn’t be happening. This  _ wasn’t _ happening. Not  _ again _ . Oh, but it was, to her dismay. She gasped, desperately thinking of anything she could do… or even  _ say _ , but she couldn’t bring anything up as she helplessly stared into the camera on Krazy 8’s dashboard.

‘’I’m trying… to get my- ACK!’’. Those were Kadeem’s last words before the static overtook his camera feed, and then everything went black.

‘’Kadeem…  **KADEEM!!!, DAMN IT ALL!** ’’. The brunette cursed, slamming her fists into the metal desk.

Gig and Tezla shared a look of silent mourning for the driver they had just lost. It had happened already,  _ several _ times… At this point, the floating metal scrap’s grief was more sincere than the doctor’s. 

They silently got back to work on monitoring the rest of the drivers’ progress, ignoring the beat, quietly whimpering woman in front of them.

XXXXX

***BACK WITH THE DRONE SQUAD THAT WIPED OUT KADEEM***

Yet another torrent of lightning came down from the floating pillars above and into the rods below that were next to the track, storing its energy among them equally.

Taro paid it no mind as a frown crossed his face. He was going to make them pay for what they’d just done.

He shifted gears to fifth and stomped on the gas pedal, gaining up on the three drones ahead of him incredibly quickly. He rear ended one of them, making its tail sway from side to side before it regained control of its car.

The drones all diverted paths as a ball of lightning came raining down on them, and it took the Asian Maniac off guard. He could only gasp in surprise as his car was hit, being sent tumbling several yards backwards, until it landed on the side of the track. 

Its driver was knocked out unconscious, and his car’s electrical circuits short circuited. Sparks jutted from all over the dashboard, and the speedometer and tachometer, which were no longer functional. 

***YET ANOTHER SWAP TO ANOTHER PART OF THE TRACK***

Karma, Kurt and Octavio marched on an uneasy formation, with Karma in the lead, the eldest Wylde in the middle and the latin Teku in the rear. 

The brunette smirked as her icy blue eyes fixated on the drone ahead of her with a confident stare. She was ready to take on whatever it threw at her.

And throw something at her it did, for several tennis ball sized metallic objects came from the back fender of the Drone car, embedding themselves on the track and extending a prong on each side, as if touching them activated whatever function they had.

The sole female grunted as she was suddenly forced to weave her way through the obstacles from left to right, with utmost caution. However, one balls exploded to her immediate left exploded unexpectedly, sending Chicane spinning out of control with its left door and side severely burnt and dented, with a huge blast mark on it. The vehicle spun until it bluntly hit the side of a lightning rod, and its right window smashed from the impact.

‘’ _ -rma!!! Karma!!! Are you alright? _ ’’. Kurt’s panicked voice came to her through the radio, as her ears stopped ringing enough to let her hear properly.

‘’Yes… I’m fine… go on with the race… you both’’. She replied, shaking her head as her ears kept ringing.

Both men acknowledged her wellbeing, and carried on without her. 

As Karma regained her bearings, she saw to her left another set of tracks, which was being tread on by Kurt’s younger brother and the unidentified Maniac which Karma guessed was her teammate’s friend.

She curiously switched frequencies to the Maniacs’, remaining in silence as she resumed driving, albeit at a slow pace to allow her to see what they were doing.

XXXXX

***WITH WYLDE, MONKEY AND MARTIN***

Impaler passed by an unmoving Plymouth Roadrunner, which was unmistakably Taro’s. The Dodge Charger R/T’s driver shook his head and spoke to his remaining teammate. ‘’Wylde, boludo, I just went past Taro… He didn’t seem in good shape. You should check on him, and if need be, tow him. I’m too far ahead already, I can’t go back’’. He warned his bolt-headed teammate, awaiting for a response. He was surprised, however, to hear Monkey’s voice instead.

‘’Don’t worry Martu! We got it!’’. The mechanic’s voice cheerfully assured the scruffy blonde, and with that, they cut comms for the time being. ‘’Wylde, there he is!!!’’. Monkey pointed out, both verbally and literally as they saw Taro’s still form inside of his car. 

The eldest Wylde grunted in acknowledgement, but still kept on speeding away. ‘’Taro can wait, I gotta win this race!!’’. He declared, ignoring his teammate’s dire situation.

Monkey frowned, and immediately fumbled with the cars’ various buttons and switches until he found the emergency brake, which he promptly pulled and a set of spikes dropped on the back of the car, screeching against the ground and pulling it to an abrupt halt.

‘’Don’t ever touch my car!!!’’. Wylde scolded Monkey, holding his fist up in a threatening manner. He was puzzled, however, when he saw the mechanic’s determined glare as he stared back at him in defiance.

‘’Taro’s a Metal Maniac, Wylde. We’re  _ welded _ ’’. Monkey said, emphasizing the welded part. This seemed to get through Mark’s thick skull, for he receded and his fist turned into a pointing finger.

‘’Fetch me that cable, we’re gonna tow his car’’. Wylde’s voice sounded surprisingly calm and understanding, and that was enough to waver Monkey’s confidence and send him scurrying into the back of the car before retrieving said object and handing it over. ‘’Thanks’’. Wylde dryly replied, before they both got off the car and set to work to help their teammate.

XXXXX   
  


***NEAR THE END OF THE TRACK***

Vert and Kurt unexpectedly met each other again as their separate tracks merged into one, and they soon found themselves a couple dozen feet behind a squad of Drones. To their side was a massive dome of lightning, with a track that went straight through it. 

They both looked at it for a moment and then communicated with each other, setting their plan.

‘’I’m making my move as soon as they’re inside that thing, the lightning should glitch ‘em out or somethin’ like that’’. The blonde stated, half staring at the ball of electricity, half focusing on the road ahead of him.

‘’Alright, but make sure you stay focused. Keep your eyes on your line!’’. Kurt warned his teammate, before looking at the rearview mirror as Vert called something out.

‘’Hold up!!! Someone’s coming up behind us!!!’’. The surfrat yelled, doing the same thing as the eldest Wylde did. 

Behind them, a black blur was rapidly approaching them both, followed closely by a red car and a blue one. The one ahead of the duo was unequivocally a Drone, and by the looks of it, the one who’d sent Kadeem off the track and that had bulldozed through the majority of the drivers.

‘’Don’t let them get past!’’, Kurt shouted, getting even with his teammate.

As the Drone crept closer to them, they tightened the space between both cars, rendering it practically impossible for the enemy to pass. It just  _ couldn’t  _ do it, unless it somehow became as thin as a paper sheet.

Seconds later, the hulking vehicle rear-ended both Teku cars, shaking them moderately and making their drivers shake on their seats. 

Undeterred, the Drone  _ yet  _ again extracted another card-like object from the overhead compartment and inserted it into the slot. This one had a shape that loosely resembled a triangle with a dot above and another one below. The symbol was dark green in color and the rest of the object was aqua green. 

As soon as the Lieutenant inserted the object into the slot, the car glowed aqua green and became thinner until it was almost bidimensional. It only took a bit of speed for it to go  _ between _ both Teku cars ahead of it, and then once it passed them, it stopped glowing and returned to its normal size.

‘’What-... What the hell was that?’’. Vert cried out with a completely befuddled look on his face.

‘’I don’t know… but we still gotta-... whoa!’’. Kurt was equally taken aback at the display he saw going over his roof.

***BRIEF SWAP TO OCTAVIO AND MARTIN***

‘’Boludo we are almost done, I can feel it!!!’’. The brown haired Teku yelled confidently as he stared at the seemingly final obstacle in the realm, a massive dome of lightning.

His friend hummed in agreement as they rounded a corner and their track merged with another one. ‘’Looks like we got some company. That dude knocked some driver out of the track, and I think it’s time for payback, but the problem is we got two of your teammates ahead, how can we go through them?’’. The scruffy blonde mused, deep in thought.

‘’Duh, pedazo de boludo, we can just go  _ over them _ ! Think! Impale, and jump, bro, impale and jump!’’. Octavio chanted, trying to get his buddy to think.

‘’ _ Impale… and jump… _ ’’. The dark blonde repeated in a mumble, before shaking his head and laughing. ‘’For a boludo, you can be a genius sometimes, y’know?’’. He added as he flipped a switch and deployed a spike in front of his car, before speeding up and anchoring Impaler to Ocean Thunder.

Immediately after, the rival-friends duo flew over Kurt and Vert using the Teku’s jump jets, and with the Maniac being attached to the later via the spike which give the Maniac car its name. 

Leaving the confused pair of drivers behind, the friends in opposing teams used the Nitrox and propelled themselves farther ahead in unison, intending to catch up on the towering Drone vehicle.

XXXXX

Back with Kurt and Vert, both shook out of their daze and grunted in annoyance as they lost some ground.

‘’They’re going into that thing!’’. Kurt shouted, switching gears and speeding up.

Vert followed suit, swerving to the right to avoid a lightning bolt that narrowly missed his car as the electrical activity became more and more intense the closer they got to the dome.

The squad of Drones entered first, forming a line of four with three underlings and their leader in tow, all of them taking the right path, while two humans matched their pace but taking the left one. 

Vert and Kurt, meanwhile, caught up with them using their nitrox simultaneously, leaving a trail of blue flames behind as they pushed forward and regained the lost distance.

The trio of Teku cars and the lone Maniac all went through the left-most path while the Drones marched on the right one, with their leader now leading their march. The tracks crossed at several intervals and the drivers almost crashed against each other, but at the last moment they missed each other by inches. 

Once the track finished its loop, Vert found himself near a curve, when a lighting bolt suddenly impacted on it, a few yards ahead of him. With scarce time to react, he widened his eyes in surprise as the bolt reflected on them and he slammed his feet on the brakes, twisting the wheel to the side and yelping in surprise. 

His car drifted as it slowed down to a halt, and seconds later a Drone car came behind him and smashed into his Deora II, sending him spinning uncontrollably. Meanwhile, the unfortunate drone was hit by another one of its teammates, and both machine-made cars went tumbling into the track, flipping several times until they both landed upside down, one with a tire missing and the other with its entire roof collapsed and its frame heavily dented.

Completely unaware of this carnage, Kurt drove out of the dome and was caught off guard when he saw the lone drone vehicle ahead of him. He only managed to let out a ‘’No!’’ of dismay before he crashed head first into the overturned drone car.

Slingshot went flying several feet high in the air, tracing an arc as it sailed, before landing hard on the ground. It tumbled over several times, losing a tire, breaking the remaining windows and scrapping its paint until it came to a complete halt. Inside, Kurt felt something jab at his left leg, stabbing itself into it and he hissed in pain, before hitting his head against the wheel because of the impact, and thus being rendered momentarily dizzy.

The portal was just a mile ahead, awaiting the winner to claim whatever the prize may be. The symbol of the Realm was displayed on the light blue portal, a purple N tilted to the right glowing brightly, awaiting for the victor.

Martin and Octavio raced on the track, scarce feet behind the Drone leader, creeping ever so close to it.

‘’We’re the only ones left, amigo, let’s get this dude!’’. The Teku yelled to his teammate, receiving a cheerful exclamation on the radio as he squinted his eyes and switched gears. ‘’I’m gonna get on his left, and you on his right. When I say go, you ram him and then so do I, and that thing and me will go spinning out and you’ll cross that portal bro, got it?’’. He asked, his voice eager with enthusiasm.

‘’Yeeea, let’s get that freak!!! Come on!!!’’. Martin pressed down even harder on the gas pedal as he yelled atop his lungs.

Both cars got on each side of the drone, and before its mechanical driver had any time to pull a trick with the chip-like objects, the humans acted.

‘’NOW!!!’’. The latin Teku yelled, slamming into the drone’s left side and knocking it out of balance. 

While that didn’t completely impede it from moving, it did faze the drone enough for Martin to attack him from the right, and that was enough to send the drone and the Teku spinning out, effectively rendering them both out of combat for the time being. 

The machine, the brown-haired Teku, and a wounded Kurt and a confused Vert watched on as the Maniac sped away, leaving a trail of burning yellow flames as he used the last of his nitrox and crossed the portal in a blinding white flash of light, before the symbol on the portal disappeared. 

Seconds later, all activity on the realm seemed to deactivate suddenly, as if its very energy core had been taken from it. The lightning bolts zapping to and fro ceased their activity, and so did the pillars above the track, turning off one by one. 

As the humans dwelled on this thought, the drone lieutenant marched away and crossed the portal, the Drone menace defeated for the time being.

Kurt watched in surprise as his brother’s car ran past him, with Taro’s Roadrunner in tow, crossing the portal and bailing out of the Realm. Some seconds later, several of the girls came by as well, some of them towed, and heavily damaged. 

‘’Looks like those things got them too… ah, shit!’’. Kurt deduced, attempting to ignore the pain in his left leg.

Meanwhile, Octavio backtracked a bit until he got to Slingshot’s wreckage, forgetting momentarily about his friend’s and his success, and focused on the task at hand. Using sheer strength, he struggled with the locked, scrapped and dented door, prying off a chunk of it until he made a gap big enough for Kurt to come out through. He popped his head through it and gave the wounded Wylde sibling a friendly grin. ‘’Hey there, how you holdin’ up?’’.

He received a grateful grunt as a response. ‘’Not too good, but, I can’t complain, at least I’m alive’’. Kurt unstrapped his seatbelt and sighed dejectedly, mourning the loss of his car.

The latin Teku shook his head and brought the goggled-man back to reality. ‘’Hey, I ain’t leavin’ you in there, come on’’. He said, extending his right arm to pull the injured driver out.

Kurt took it gratefully, and was pulled into a standing position, but he soon regretted it as his left leg exploded in a throbbing sensation of excruciating pain, and he almost fell to the floor, hadn’t it been for the pair of arms that held him by his shoulders. 

A feminine voice suddenly rang in his ears and he was surprised to hear that Karma had caught up with them. ‘’I can take him Oct, don’t worry, just help me get him into my car’’.

The latino nodded and then both he and the brunette promptly brought the eldest Wylde into Chicane. Once Kurt was seated, he fastened his seatbelt as best as he could, and nodded, silently thanking both who helped him. He saw off the corner of his eye as the brown haired male walked away from Chicane and got in his Nissan.

As soon as he climbed inside Ocean Thunder, he turned his attention to Vert and shouted to him. ‘’It’s over Vert!!!  _ Se acabó boludo!!! _ , it's over, we’re going out’’. 

Defiant, the blonde replied with determination and conviction. ‘’No way, I’m goin’ back for Kadeem!’’. He punched the steering wheel and did a 180° spin, before speeding away from his teammates and backtracking.

Karma and Octavio shared a shrug before marching away, crossing the portal and exiting uneventfully.

XXXXX

***MEANWHILE, IN THE ACCELEDROME***

The first one that came through was the victorious Dodge Charger R/T, with its occupant sliding it to a skidding halt as he yelled profanities in spanish, with something regarding the drones to bite him or suck it. He was so stuck in his celebration that he was taken totally by surprise when a purple card-shaped-and-sized object materialized, quite literally, in front of him. He hesitantly reached for it, and took it. His surprised look soon turned into a satisfied grin as he stared at the purple chip which he had just won. 

However, his satisfaction once again turned into surprise, mixed with concern as well, as he saw the cars that came out of the portal and landed on different parts of the Acceledrome, all in varying states of disrepair. 

He held the object tightly in one hand and got out of his car, walking over to Taro’s. He soon joined Monkey and Wylde milling around it. The blonde shook his head worriedly as he stared at the unconscious Asian inside the busted car.

Meanwhile, some commotion rang behind him as the girls all frantically took their wounded out of their cars and helped them stand up. Tincho whipped his head around and paled lightly at seeing the particularly wounded member of the Aces. But he focused back on his own, and then nudged the jumpy mechanic on the back, and mumbled something about Taro’s state infirmary, to which the lanky man nodded and both set to work in taking the injured Maniac out of the no-longer-working vehicle.

Elsewhere, in the Control Room, Gig hovered over next to Lani and looked at the timer, which was incredibly close to zero now. ‘’The portal is about to close!’’. The hovering robot exclaimed matter-of-factly.

Lani furiously tapped into her communicator in her ear, and focused on Vert’s onboard camera. ‘’Vert, you can’t go after Kadeem! Turn back now!!!’’. She demanded, frowning as the blonde kept driving further and further away from the portal.

‘’ _ Oh yeah? Watch me! _ ’’. He responded with rebelliousness, staring at the track and not paying any mind to her. 

She shook her head and insisted with more emphasys. ‘’The portal only stays open for an hour… You only have  **_ONE_ ** minute left… You’ve got to turn around,  **_NOW!_ ** ’’.

This seemed to shake Vert and get his attention, for his voice trailed and lost all hints of confidence. ‘’ _ Waitwaitwait- what?!, why didn’t you tell us this earlier?! _ ’’. He snapped, feeling overwhelmed with fear momentarily.

Instantly recognizing it was an error on their part, Lani trailed off as well. ‘Well… I…’’.

Gig chimed in, sparing her from saying anything. ‘’Doctor Tezla thought it would… discourage you from driving’’.

Some seconds of tense silence followed as they heard a light thud, presumably from Vert punching the steering wheel as he slowed down to a halt. The look on his face was as if he was waging a war inside his mind, between the thoughts of saving his friend, on one hand, and saving his own life on the other. This was decided, apparently, considering he grunted and then shook his head dejectedly. ‘’ _ Fuck it, I’m coming out! _ ’’. He turned the wheel around and then started heading back towards the portal.

XXXXX

***NEAR THE END OF THE TRACK***

As Vert raced at full speed on the track, time kept ticking down. The clock, based on his estimations, would be on, at least, half a minute by now. Luckily for him, he could already see the round outline of the portal in the distance. 

"Come on… Come on!!!!". He growled under his breath, flooring it even harder than he thought possible.

Meanwhile, from the wreckage of drones that he'd caused, a lone drone emerged, standing up unscathed. It walked to the side of the track and prepared itself, straightening its posture and extending its arms to the sides at it saw the incoming white vehicle.

And in one swift motion, the drone clung itself into Deora II's spoiler, slowly climbing forward bit by bit.

Vert momentarily wondered what was that metal clanking on his left, but he soon disregarded it and focused on the track ahead. The portal was mere yards away, he was going to make it.

XXXXX

***BACK IN THE ACCELEDROME***

Lani panicked, seeing as the clock reached zero at last, and the alarms began to blare as the Wheel of Power's rings quickly spun around several times.

Before the portal closed, however, a final flash of light glowed and from the now-deactivated wheel came flying the final car… or rather, the front half of it.

A loud screeching noise resonated on the walls of the Acceledrome as the front half of Vert's Deora came to a halt, drifting lightly until the back of it was visible to Lani.

The mechanic gasped as she saw the steel framing of the car colored red, seemingly as if it'd been cut off abruptly.

Much to her shock, a robotic voice spoke next to her, with a tone that presumably attempted to sound gracious. "I believe that's called… cutting it close?". 

She groaned and shook her head, waving the robot away.

***MEANWHILE, WITH VERT***

The blonde sighed in despondency as he unfastened his seatbelt. There wasn’t much to do with a car reduced to half of what it once was, so he simply turned his head around to at least put the seatbelt in its place for one last time, until something interrupted him rather forcefully.

A mangled metal arm broke through the front glass, sending several shards of it in Vert’s direction. The blonde reacted in kind, shielding his face from the flying projectiles, and as his vision was limited for a moment, he found himself surprised when the arm suddenly pressed firmly on his chest, pinning him to the seat and impeding him from breathing normally. 

He yelped as his chest was constricted forcefully by what he now saw was a drone, or rather, the half of it that remained and that’d managed to get out of the realm along with his Deora II. Feeling an intense pain in his ribs, he blindly punched the dashboard and to his luck, he hit the button that opened the front and only door, which slid up with equal violence that matched that of the Drone, and sent it flying away several yards until it landed on the floor, fizzling for some seconds, apparently deactivated, before it returned to life once again and started chasing after Vert, while the blonde ran away for his own life.

Suddenly, and to his relief, Karma came by, with her still charred car and slammed into the Drone, lifting it up and running until she crashed front-fender first into a wall, impaling the drone in there and severing several of its cables. Just to be extra sure, she revved the engine in place, the tires burning against the ground until the drone sparked with electricity once more and from one moment to the other, it lay still, completely unmoving. 

She sighed, alleviated, as she slowly lifted the foot of the gas pedal and turned the car off, her icy blue eyes still staring at the mechanical being on her car’s hood. She heard a thud not too far away and realized it was Vert, who’d dropped into a seating position, and she flashed him a friendly wave, which he returned in kind.

Minutes later, Lani arrived in her former World Race car, her 55’ Chevy Nomad now painted as an ambulance. She soon got off of it and hurried to the trunk, retrieving a bag full of medical supplies out of it. She then turned around and regarded all of the drivers. ‘’Come on, let’s get everyone of you to the infirmary, those who haven’t gone yet!’’. 

Vert quickly stood up and protested, pointing to the wheel of power. ‘’No!!! What are you talking about?! We need to get back in there and find Kadeem!!!’’. 

Wylde laughed contemptuously, gesturing towards the remains of the blonde’s ride. ‘’Heh! Yer can’t even find half yer car!’’. 

Vert furiously pointed at the younger Maniac and replied in kind. ‘’Hey, fuck off!!!...  _ Markie! _ ’’. He added, earning a venomous glare from the shades-wearing Maniac.

Fortunately for everyone there, further conflict was avoided as Gig came hovering and got in between both drivers, preventing a possible argument. ‘’The Storm Realm can’t be reopened. The Wheel of Power decides which realm to open and when, it doesn’t open them twice’’. The machine stated plainly, looking at the blonde driver below him.

The blonde felt as if a bucket full of cold water had been thrown upon him, completely shaking him and obliterating any hopes he could have had of rescuing his long-time friend. He looked down at the ground in defeat, clenching his fists in defeat.

Another voice chuckled, and everyone turned to Monkey as he rubbed his hands. ‘’That’s great, cause one realm’s enough for me anyways’’. 

Kurt snickered, limping a bit on his own, but still supported by his fellow brown-haired Teku. Ignoring the throbbing sensation in his left leg, he spitefully chided his rival, ‘’Typical Metal Maniac… the Teku aren’t afraid to try again’’. 

Monkey flipped him the bird. ‘’Ah, screw the Teku! Metal Maniacs do whatever the fuck we want, right Wylde?’’. The mechanic shot his teammate a sideways glance as he spoke.

The Maniac with sunglasses shook his head in disagreement. ‘’Nobody scares Wylde away from a race’’. He countered, ruining Monkey’s comeback at Kurt.

Shocked, Monkey looked at the spiky black haired youngster and asked him, incredulous. ‘’What? You wanna go back in there again?, look what those drones did to us!’’. He looked at Taro and then at the wounded girls behind them for emphasys. 

A booming, firm voice interrupted them all, speaking from a bridge overlooking the space where they all were together. ‘’Look what they did  _ to me _ ’’. 

This man was Doctor Peter Tezla in the flesh, or rather, in the biosuit. His entire body was encased in a sort of metallic exoskeleton which moved with millimetric precision to match and aid his every move, emitting a low mechanic whirr every time he moved any of his joints. Under it, he wore a dark purple jumpsuit. 

With a white goatee and matching hair, he seemed to be in his late fifties, or maybe early sixties. His blue eyes were hidden by deep purple glasses, and he stared at all of the drivers with a neutral gaze, letting them register his presence before continuing to speak.

‘’We have work to do’’. He simply said, before turning his back on them all, and marching away to his living quarters.

All of the drivers promptly shrugged to each other’s teammates, and soon resumed their prioritary task, which was getting the wounded to the infirmary. 

The Aces took their unconscious asian member in a stretcher, with a blood bag already connected to her, thanks to Lani. Lucy, on the other hand, winced as she pulled the stretcher along with the brunette mechanic and her light blonde teammate. The tanned Ace’s arm pained her, but she ignored it, prioritizing her friend’s wellbeing. 

Meanwhile, Taro was carried in a triple effort by Monkey, Martin and the blonde Maniac’s best friend, who simply nodded in salutation to the redheaded Maniac and received an equal nod as they walked to the infirmary. Next to them, Kurt walked on his own, limping noticeably though, grunting with each step he took.

And finally, the Metal Teku Asian walked aided by her two teammates, sparing her from having to step with her injured leg. ‘’Thanks y’all’’. She coolly thanked them both, smiling weakly.

Time went by as the most grievously injured were laid carefully into different beds and treated accordingly, with hours soon passing by and the night giving pass to morning as Lani and the unscathed drivers worked the best they could in dealing with the damage the wounded had received.

Gale laid half asleep on a bed with her right leg encased in a metal boot similar to Tezla’s, while the tanned Ace, Lucy, sat on an armchair with her entire left arm covered in a similar metal casing that made most of the movements for her, preventing her muscles and bones from further damaging themselves. Kya and Taro both slept soundly in their respective beds, one recovering from an intense electric shock and the other from blood loss and a severe blow to the back of her head. 

Some drivers had even gone to the point of willingly offering their blood if need be, and soon enough, the latin Maniac and Teku both were sitting next to their childhood friends, the bold blonde and the daydreaming tanned brunette. The four of them winced as they patted their bandaged forearms, from where they had had blood extracted from them to help their friend’s recovery. 

‘’Man… that sure was crazy, huh?’’. Martin broke the tense silence, looking at the three of them with his eyes wide. ‘’Did you see how we outsmarted that big ass robot?’’. He cheerfully questioned them, flashing a tired, yet still energic grin.

The girls chuckled in unison, and the blonde was the one to respond. ‘’Si boludo, that was just… badass!!! You two sure always were a good team. What did you get at the end of that realm anyways?’’. Annabelle asked, tilting her head to the side as Martin retrieved something from his pocket.

The scruffy dark blonde held a card-sized object, as thick as a finger, in front of the puzzled girls’ faces, and much to his brown haired friend’s amusement as well. Martin nodded as the object glowed and hummed lightly, emitting some kind of energy as he held it in his hand. It had the realm’s main color and symbol of the portal on it. ‘’I don’t know what this thing is, but I’d bet my car that things like this made the big ass drone so powerful’’. He then put it back in his pocket and coughed.

‘’Maybe it’s powerful but raw strength won’t get you anywhere if you ain’t got a strategy. We owned that guy!’’. Octavio cheered, raising his hand and highfiving his best friend.

Some chuckles were heard from those others still awake at the infirmary. Gale looked at them and flashed them a friendly wave. ‘’Yo’, you did good. Martin’s the name, right?’’. 

The one adressed nodded. ‘’Yeppers, and who would you be?’’. The dark blonde queried, looking at the still Asian Metal Teku.

She nodded at him and nodded. ‘’I’m Gale, and the other drivers who are my besties and partners in driving are Talia and Terra, the first one you may already know, and the other one’s as silent as me. She may look mean but she’s cool if you get to know her enough though’’. She explained, before lapsing into a momentary silence, feeling a bit weird for talking rather too much.

The tanned Ace, Lucy, winced as she hit the chair with her wounded arm’s palm. ‘’We’re gonna get back at them tenfold next time we go in there. For Kya, and for everyone else as well, of that, I’m shuu _ uuure _ ’’. She yawned as she finished declaring her plan, and then turned to look at the tired looking drivers who nodded and gave weak nods and grunts of agreement.

Lani walked into the infirmary all of a sudden, and nodded to them all before speaking. ‘’You look like quite the united bunch guys, unlike the rest of them…’’. The brunette sighed dejectedly, thinking of the former World Race drivers.

‘’How’s Kurt?’’. Oct asked, concerned, even if it wasn’t so much, about the egocentric Wylde’s state.

‘’He’s milling around his new car, with his leg bandaged and with a exoprosthesis like the ones some of you are wearing’’. The former Wave Ripper replied warmly. ‘’At least he and his brother aren’t strangling each other to death, so I guess that’s a great relief’’. She added jokingly, earning some curious stares from the group of drivers. She then shook her head and beckoned the unscathed drivers out of the room. ‘’Come on guys, those of you who are more or less in good shape should go and get some rest in your quarters while you can, you don’t know when the next realm is gonna open’’.

The childhood friends, barring Lucy, stood up and promptly exited the room behind Lani, leaving behind the tanned woman, Gale, Taro and Kya. 

XXXXX

**A/N:** And there goes our third chapter!!! Phew! It sure was a challenge to write, mainly because we didn’t want to repeat a thousand times wo rds like ‘’drive’’, ‘’shift gears’’, ‘’speed down the track’’, ‘’track’’, ‘’racetrack’’, ‘’drive again’’, ‘’pass by’’, and a big list of etc. Hopefully it’ll appeal you all guys and girls, if y’all got any ideas, critics or suggestions, as always, do review, please!

Without further ado, we’ll see you in the next chapter fellas!

Octavio, sailorchickenwing and 733S over and out!


	4. Of arrivals, meetings and preparations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The remaining drivers arrive at the scene, joining their fellow teammates into this strange, out-of-this-world racing experience!!! What will happen once they all meet?

**Acceleracers: Reborn**

An Acceleracers fanfiction written by octavio675, sailorchickenwing and 733S.

**A/N:** Yo yo yo yo wassup peeps from fanfiction dot net and AO3!!! Here’s your myriad of writers coming back with yet another chapter for this… uuuh… thingy!!! This one’s kinda short, but we hope it doesn’t disappoint y’all. Without having much to say, here it goes!!!

  


**DISCLAIMER:** **WE DON’T OWN NOTHING EXCEPT FOR MY OCS. Credits for the other OCs (Metal Teku) go to Shadowofthedragons/Shads42, a good friend of mine. Tyvm for letting me use them back then, and now as well. Acceleracers and Highway 35 are property of Mattel, Mainframe Entertainment/Rainmaker Studios and etc, etc. We are IN NO WAY, SHAPE OR FORM profitting from this.**

**Part one: Ignition**

**Chapter four: Of arrivals, reunions and preparations**

  


***WEST COAST, CALIFORNIA, A BIT BEFORE SUNRISE***

******_*In the Acceledrome*_ **

**_  
_ **

Mere hours had passed since the Storm Realm’s closing, and while they had certainly emerged victorious, the human drivers were still quite exhausted, injured and beaten, and so were some of their cars. A bunch of them were no longer drivable, and thus required replacements. And so it happened, that after a whole day of resting as much as they could, they all got back to work, tending to their means of transport.

The Teku were in their garage working on their cars, some of which were brand new. Octavio was working under the hood of his car applying some new spark plugs, while Kurt was building his new car, which he had christened Battle Spec, albeit with some difficulty due to his wounds. It was a side-rider open top car, with a very eccentric paint job. Vert was testing out the dyno of his car and checking its tuning, and finally the sole female member of the music-loving team was nowhere to be seen.

Meanwhile the Metal Maniacs were doing their best to avoid the Teku. Wylde was (bad pun ahead) wildly fumbling with something in Spinebuster’s boiler, furiously muttering something and grunting in disapproval as he struggled with it. Meanwhile, Martin and Monkey were adjusting the former’s Nitrox tanks, fiddling with the hoses which led from the canisters to the engine. Taro was, logically, nowhere to be seen around his teammates, still occupying a spot in the infirmary.

‘’Maybe if we crank up this valve a bit, the pressure would rise and in turn that’d allow more Nitrox to enter the mix, right?’’. The latin Maniac suggested, eyeing the jumpy Maniac with a hopeful stare.

The goatee-sporting Maniac flinched, almost hitting his head with the open hood. ‘’Oh, yeah, right! That should do the trick, but if it doesn’t, we could just put bigger hoses, let me see what I can do…’’. The redheaded mechanic commented as he set to work, humming to himself.

Elsewhere, both all-girls teams, barring their injured members, were working on their respective vehicles, doing some much needed maintenance and/or upgrades. 

Gale idly sat inside her car, testing out some new songs in the speakers, having decided the entire status of her vehicle was in optimal condition. She accidentally hit the gas pedal with her right leg, and then immediately regretted it as a jolt of pain made her wince, closing her eyes, the pain so overbearing it almost drowned out her music. 

Next to her, Talia tended to her vehicle’s suspension. She frowned and mumbled a curse in spanish as she struggled with the suspension coils. She paid no mind to her surroundings as she stared a bit above her head where her car was suspended by one of the cranes.

And finally we have Terra who’s helping the only Ace in condition to work, who was putting an entirely new engine in Golden Arrow. As they both slowly let go of a pulley which lowered the engine in place, the light blonde couldn’t help but sigh in sadness as she thought of how bad her teammates were.

Terra nudged her in the back and raised an eyebrow inquisitively. ‘’Something the matter?’’. She asked straightforwardly, calm as ever.

Annabelle nodded. ‘’I don’t know if they’ll be in condition for whenever the next realm opens… In any case, the other ones from my team are already headed here anyways’’.

The stern Metal Teku agreed with a nod of her own. ‘’We were unsure of doing the same, but after we told Verity about this… needless to say, she was mad beyond any measure, and Aurora… well, she was jumpy and excited as expected from her’’. She shrugged nonchalantly as she revealed her other teammates to the confused light blonde.

‘’Aurora? Verity?, I thought it was just you three… well, it makes sense for your crew to be made of 5 people… well, I’m gonna assume Verity’s the leader of your team’’. Ann gestured Terra to pass her a wrench, which she gratefully received before continuing speaking as she adjusted the engine’s bolts into place. ‘’Our leader is Camila, or just Cam for short, and our last member is a shy but cool lil’ one called Iris, my best bet is that they’ll be here within an hour or so’’.

Terra nodded hesitantly in agreement, before allowing a ghost of a smile to creep on her lips. ‘’I hope so as well, not only for your team, but also for mine’’. 

As they were approached by the Metal Teku’s latina co-leader and her music loving teammate, they all engaged into friendly banter, ignoring the boys quarreling and milling around not too far from them.

Back with the men, Kurt had successfully lifted his car thanks to a crane. Battle Spec now rested at a rather weird angle from the ground, almost vertically, but slightly deviated to the side, allowing its owner to work on the underside. However, just as he was sliding a bolt in place, he stumbled backwards with his wounded leg and fell to the ground, the wrench clattering noisily next to him, away from his grasp.

The commotion got Monkey’s attention, who snickered and stared at Kurt with bemusement. ‘’Nice one Kurt!’’. 

The goggles-wearing Teku flipped him the bird, struggling to get up. Once he got back on his feet, he noticed his blonde teammate staring at him. 

‘’Hey, need any help?’’. Vert asked with a small grin.

Kurt grunted in dismissal, weakly waving his hand. ‘’Nah, I’m fine’’. 

Meanwhile, a loud sigh was heard from none other than Lani as she put her hands in her hips, overlooking all the drivers at once but focusing particularly on the eldest Wylde. ‘’You are in no condition to work Kurt, none of you are’’. She sharply stated, with a great deal of concern behind her serious facade. 

A male, equally stern and firm voice countered her, followed by a series of mechanic whirrs as Doctor Tezla emerged in the scene, Gig floating beside him. ‘’The next Racing Realm could open at any given time, that’s why we must be ready, no matter what’’.

Kurt disagreed, shrugging in his seating position. ‘’We skip the next realm, so what?, it’s not like that’s gonna change anything, right? I mean, we beat them, we should have some kinda advantage’’.

Tezla then adressed the former Street Breed with a scrutinizing gaze. ‘’The strange powers you reported… the things their cars could do… I believe they earn new powers each time they complete a Racing Realm’’. He deduced, looking wearily at everyone present there, before adding in a more solemn, beaten-sounding tone. ‘’Soon… it will be impossible to defeat them’’.

Lani, yet again annoyed, waved her arms in protest and looked at him disbelievingly. ‘’Soon? It already  _ is  _ impossible! The cars aren’t ready and… everyone including myself is exhausted!’’. 

The hovering robot agreed with the mechanic, looking at its owner. ‘’They’re only humans after all, Doctor Tezla’’.

Lani carried on speaking, arguing that, ‘’They can’t go against the Drones again… at least, not now…’’. She sighed dejectedly as she finished, before a noise in the distance caught her attention.

Soon, more and more of the drivers caught wind of this and stopped whatever they were doing to see what was that. 

Monkey perked up, getting up from the tire in which he was seated and asked aloud. ‘’Does anyone else hear music?’’. He received several nods as a response and then he grinned. ‘’That must be my ride. I got in touch with Tork, I told him what happened back there’’. He looked at Wylde with a smug look on his face as he stepped forward a bit.

Meanwhile, the shades-wearing Maniac shook his head, frowning in concentration. ‘’That’s no Metal Maniac’’. 

Soon enough, two cars sped down the small maze outside the Acceledrome’s entrance and jumped across the cliff, coming through the main and only entrance ramp and heading towards the place where everyone was congregated. 

A white, truck-looking car with a ton of techie-looking speakers on its back, followed by a golden painted car with dragon vinyls on its sides and a golden spoiler arrived, coming to a halt with their tires screeching. From the truck, an asian-looking young adult with spiky dark hair, light skin and orange shades emerged, touching something in a wrist pad as he started nodding, having thankfully lowered his music so that only he could hear it in his headphones. ‘’Yo’, let’s pump up the bassline!’’. He cheered, waving his fingers lightly.

Meanwhile, from the golden car emerged a tanned latino who had a blue and orange jacket, blue jogging pants and a frown on his face as he squinted his hazel eyes a bit, scanning his surroundings.

Tezla, fearful and also enraged at what happened, confronted Monkey, of all people. ‘’ **You had no right to reveal the location of the Acceledrome!!!** ’’. He snapped, pointing at him accusingly.

The orange-haired mechanic waved his arms defensively. ‘’Hey, hey, I don’t talk to Teku, aight? You can drop it right there, old man’’. He then stormed off, pointing back at Tezla briefl.y 

Behind him, a limping Kurt emerged into the platform, aided by two crutches. ‘’ _ I  _ told him, because we needed help’’. He revealed, staring at Tezla with a light frown.

The doctor receded a bit, softening his glare, but still remained serious nevertheless. ‘’Listen, what we do here  _ must  _ be kept a  **secret** ’’. He emphasyzed the last part, staring at Kurt intently.

Amused, the elder Wylde stared back with a raised eyebrow. ‘’Why?, who are you scared of?’’.

‘’Of the Drones’’. The man in the biosuit replied, unfazed.

A sudden, challenging voice interrupted them all, coming from the tanned latino who’d emerged from the golden car. ‘’ **THE RACING DRONES ARE FINISHED!!!** ’’. He yelled, waving his arms to the sides as he walked towards his teammates, fist bumping with his fellow-ethnicity one, and then with the surfer one, before openly stating again. ‘’Nobody beats the Teku!’’. 

Wylde closed in on him and snorted, correcting him. ‘’You mean… nobody but the Metal Maniacs’’. 

Nolo, annoyed, stared at the excon and frowned. ‘’I mean…  _ nobody _ ’’. He muttered, in between clenched teeth. 

Chuckling in amusement, Wylde shrugged him off. ‘’Yeah, yeah, whatevah’’. 

Once again, the roar of an engine was heard by all, as a red muscle car with its engine on top of the hood arrived on the scene, coming to a halt near the Maniacs. 

‘’Haha! That’s my ride!’’. Monkey cheerfully said, walking towards it as its driver emerged. ‘’Hey, let’s get outta here Tork!’’.

The towering, six feet and a half-ish, muscular fellow, who was a man of african american descent, stared at his teammate and shook his head. ‘’After what you said those Drones did to you and Taro, hell no!’’. He firmly countered.

‘’That’s the idea of leaving Tork, so they don’t do it again!’’. The meek mechanic protested.

‘’ _ Nobody  _ does this to my guys, we’re  **welded!** ’’. Tork stated, pointing Monkey in the chest. 

Just as Monkey protested again, Nolo frowned, pointing at the scrawny Maniac spitefully and shouting ‘’SEND THAT MANIAC SCUM  **_BACK TO THE JUNKYARD!!!_ ** ’’. 

Effortlessly pushing the whimpering mechanic to the side, Tork menacingly approached Nolo at a slow pace, his voice dangerously level. ‘’You better watch your tone, punk’’. 

Just as they were about to continue arguing, though, a truck horn blared, followed by the distinctive sound of a truck’s engine.

‘’Is that?...’’. Monkey began, wondering to himself briefly as he got back up. He then snorted and shook his head. ‘’Nah, it can’t be. He said he’d be gone for months’’.

The horn blared again, and instants later, a black, Metal Maniac-adorned eighteen-wheeler came barreling through a giant blast door, effortlessly plowing through it like it was cardboard. It then turned right and came to a screeching halt as the tires squealed in protest, revealing a semi with three cars on top of it.

Immediately after it stopped, its driver hopped off it, revealing it to be a towering short-and-red haired man with a matching moustache and blue eyes. His attire was... to put it simply, old, and Maniac-looking, you know. He then noticed his weaker teammate approaching him and as soon as he was within an arm’s grasp, he lifted him by the collar of his shirt and spoke in a demanding voice with a southerner tone. ‘’Who did this to you?!’’. He then stared at the crowd of people a good few feet away. ‘’Whoever did it, yer going ta pay, ya’ hear meh?’’.

Monkey then struggled, looking back at Tork. ‘’Help!’’. He choked out, tugging at his neck.

‘’Stop monkeying around, Pork Chop!’’. The Maniac leader ordered, frowning, and his well-built teammate complied.

Once he set Monkey down, he shrugged nonchalantly. ‘’Whatevah’’. He grumbled, rolling his eyes.

To top it all off, yet another series of car engines sounded, as four different cars with different team emblems arrived, and from them, all girls emerged, one from each car. 

Before they could introduce themselves, however, another voice called out, getting everyone’s attention. 

‘’Hey!’’. Taro spoke, his half-scowl present as ever, before morphing into the ghost of a smirk. ‘’Let’s get even’’. He said, looking at no one in particular.

Immediately after, all four teams dispersed and got to work on giving their respective cars the finishing touches.

The recently arrived girls, from the Aces, greeted their lone team member. One of the newcomers was a dark-blonde, short girl, who was barely five feet tall and wore a light green, thin sweater and white jogging pants. Her brown orbs revealed her concern as she approached her lone lightblonde teammate.

‘’Ani… boluda… what happened, where are Lucy and Kya?’’. She asked, frowning a tiny bit.

The usually cheerful and vibrant Annabelle sighed dejectedly as she replied sourly. ‘’Both in the infirmary, Kya almost bled to death from a _very_ serious crash and Lu broke her leg, so they’re both recovering… I don’t know how long it’ll take for them to be in shape again though’’. She then piped up nevertheless and greeted her dark brown, slightly tanned teammate. ‘’Iris! Nice to see you after some time!’’.

The one addressed offered a coy smile, rubbing her forearm with her free hand. ‘’Hi Ann.. y-yeah, it’s been a long time since we last saw each other’’. She admitted warmly, before returning to her shy demeanor.

The leader of the Aces then spoke up again to her lively teammate. ‘’I… I’m sorry I didn’t come sooner… Even though you didn’t tell me much about this whole racing-for-a-ton-of-money deal, I still felt suspicious and I just…’’. 

Before she could be overcome with guilt, the light blonde waved her hand dismissively. ‘’Don’t… If anything, it was  _ my  _ fault. I came in blindly, dragging Lu and Kya along and got them how they are right now… But they are safe, and they’re gonna pull through, and they’ll see us kick those Drones’ asses!’’. She then raised her fist excitedly, earning a curious, yet slightly ever so fearful look from her retracted teammate.

Her leader snorted. ‘’Yeah… Well then, anywho, Ann, Iris, let’s go get our cars in shape for this… Racing Realms thingy. You mentioned something about a booster system, right Ani?’’. 

Annabelle nodded. ‘’Yeah, you’re gonna love it… it goes like this-’’. And her voice drifted off as we now see the Metal Teku working on their cars, both their leaders greeting each other with a fist bump.

‘’Yo’ Talia, why didn’t you tell me more in depth about this thing before?’’. Tork’s sibling questioned the latina, her emerald eyes meeting her brown ones.

‘’I didn’t want you to worry that much, Verity. I thought it’d be something quick, race, grab the cash as a prize and that’d be it... but apparently it’s gonna be something on the long term, so that’s why I ended up calling you and telling ya’ all of this’’. Nolo’s sibling sighed wearily, putting the last lug nut of a tire in place. ‘’I’m sorry, V’’. She meekly apologized, looking at her teammate with a hint of sadness and guilt in her eyes.

‘’Ay, don’t be’’. Verity countered, giving her a friendly pat on the back. ‘’You did well, not only did you all come out mostly unscathed, but also got us allies’’. She looked at the Aces who were idly milling around their vehicles and waved at them, receiving some waves in return. ‘’See?, they’re our friends now, or probably will be’’. Tork’s sibling flashed her a courageous smile.

Talia smiled back, nodding heartily. ‘’Yeah, maybe we can-’’. 

She was interrupted by Vert’s naive, happy-go-lucky cousin chiming in. ‘’Woot woot!’’. She exclaimed, enlivened. ‘’Friends? That's so cool! They got some sick rides! It’s gonna be so much fun racing them… either as allies or rivals…’’. She then stared at the white car with a spoiler in the distance. ‘’It doesn’t look like he’s seen me yet… Oh boy, greenie is gonna be in for  _ such  _ a big surprise’’. The blonde smirked devilishly, completely oblivious of her two teammates looking at her. She was broken out of her reverie, though, when Verity tapped on her shoulder.

‘’Uuuh… Aurora, that’ll have to wait after the next Realm opens, though’’. The Afrian American reminded the blonde, receiving a sad nod in response.

Back with the music loving fellas… Vert was welding something in his new vehicle’s left door, which he had come to call Power Rage. He lifted his welding mask and grinned, nodding in satisfaction, before lowering the mask again and resuming his work. Meanwhile, next to him, Kurt also worked on Battle Spec’s spoiler.

And a few feet away from the roofless car, Shirako typed something in a computer, which was hooked up to Ocean Thunder. Its driver flashed Shirako a thumbs up and the Asian tapped enter just as Gig hovered over to them, intrigued.

‘’Are you customizing it?’’. The machine queried, looking at the screen as it loaded.

‘’Teku-izing it’’. Shirako coolly answered, flashing a thumbs up at the latin Teku.

Grinning wickedly, the argie Teku turned the stereo on, and the music was… deafening, to say the least. As the EDM played, some tires started bouncing on their piles and falling to the floor, while the Maniacs winced and so did the two all-girl teams.

Pork Chop menacingly approached them, and despite being at a considerable distance, he still managed to make himself heard. ‘’Turn that noise  **_DOWN!!!_ ** ’’. He demanded, despectively pointing at the dark blue colored Nissan Skyline. 

Shirako regarded him with a smirk, and much to the southerner’s chagrin, he turned Bassline’s speakers on as well, doubling the volume of it all. 

Suddenly, a set of alarms started blaring, only being heard by a select few.

‘’Do you hear that?!’’. Karma yelled over the ruckus to Vert, receiving a confused yell as a response.

‘’Here what? Where?’’. The former surfer replied, looking at the roof of the Acceledrome.

Karma sighed and walked to Shirako, and tapped at his wrist device, completely ignoring his pouting expression as the music on both cars’ speakers was turned off.

‘’That’’. She repeated, looking at the Wheel of Power as it started spinning at impossible speeds, its three concentric rings rotating.

Doctor Tezla’s voice called out to everyone present there, ominously announcing. ‘’A new Racing Realm is opening…’’. Once the Wheel stopped tilting, he revealed the name of it. ‘’It’s the Swamp Realm’’.

Climbing inside their cars, all the drivers rushed to the entrances to the Wheel, with Synkro, Hollowback and Power Rage being the first three to do so. 

Kurt grunted in pain as he shifted in his seat, reaching for the gear lever. He was approached by Lani immediately, who looked concerned, as usual.

‘’Kurt, you’re in no shape to walk… let alone drive’’. She scolded him, although this fell on deaf ears.

For he stared back at her with a raised eyebrow and hmphed in disagreement, before looking at one of the ramps that led to the Wheel. ‘’Who’s walking?’’. He dryly replied as he sped away, heading to the booster. 

She then turned around and noticed her former love interest inside his car, revving it in place experimentally, burning some rubber before driving to the track as well.

Somewhere else, Monkey was fiddling with some cables underneath Jackhammer’s dashboard. Mumbling to himself quietly, he crossed two of them in place. ‘’I just need to hook up this gauge and… WOAH!’’. He was shot back into his seat by the sudden acceleration that his long-time friend had made, sending the car lurching forward.

As the yellow station wagon-esque vehicle came forth, it almost rammed into Chicane, whose driver drove away at the last moment to prevent the collision. 

Thus, Karma ended up spinning out violently until she hit a stack of tires, one of them falling on top of her front windshield and cracking it. She winced instinctively before slamming a gloved fist into the steering wheel, quietly cursing. ‘’Gah!... fucking Maniacs…’’. 

On the third and final entrance to the pathway to the Wheel, the Aces and the Metal Teku met, all going in in a random order. The leader of the Aces so happened to be in first place, clenching the steering wheel tightly as the invisible force of inertia pushed her back in her seat, her car hitting 300 miles per hour in an instant. 

She was soon followed by her light blonde, lively teammate, and the contrastingly shyer brunette, both in Golden Arrow and Audacious respectively. Behind them, the Metal Teku came in, each receiving a boost like they just had.

Talia followed behind Iris, thinking to herself briefly how would her brother react when he noticed her after this race. Meanwhile, Verity wondered the same, looking in the rearview mirror and noticing Terra marching behind her.

On another set of tracks, Ocean Thunder, Impaler, Bassline and Spinebuster marched in that order, all of their drivers dead silent and equally focused on their driving. 

As the last ring of the Wheel set into place, the voice of Doctor Tezla called out to everyone from the Control Room, reminding them of the time limit. ‘’ _ You all have one hour _ ’’. 

Panicking somewhere in the track, inside Jackhammer’s cockpit, Monkey pleaded to Porkchop. ‘’You don’t have to stop, man, just slow down and I’ll jump!’’. 

Unfazed by his fear, Pork Chop excitedly pumped his fist at Monkey. ‘’Ha ha ha!!!, I love this jooob!!!...  **_YEEEEEEEEEHAAAAAAAW!!!!!_ ** ’’. He joyfully cried out as he sank his feet in the gas pedal, ignoring Monkey’s prolonged call out of his nickname.

In front of them there was the final stretch, a small tunnel formed by the naturally occurring stone before the track turned right and a final booster propelled them all into the Wheel. They all braced for that moment, and one by one, they all went into the massive glowing sphere.

And so it happened that with several blurs, all of the human drivers were in, venturing into their second Racing Realm. Unbeknownst to them, their merciless robotic rivals did so as well, outnumbering them by hundreds. 

XXXXX

**A/N:** Aaaaah, that was a rather short chapter fellas, we know, we know, and we do hope it didn’t come off as a filler… but… Alas, it’s the only thing we could muster to put up as a bridge between Storm and Swamp. Hopefully this one will keep y’all entertained a bit as we work on the Swamp Realm. Stay tuned for the next chapter… as always, read, review and hit us up with ideas if you want. 

Until then, Octavio, 733S and sailor, out!


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